New York sold Stan Stutz's player rights to Boston on October 13, 1948 for cash. The Knicks, Celtics and league transaction logs agree on the rights sale, but the cash amount is not preserved. Stutz never appeared in a regular-season game for Boston after the purchase; his 1948-49 stat line belongs to the Baltimore Bullets, where he played 59 games and averaged 6.3 points and 1.4 assists. The reviewed transaction sources do not document the intervening roster mechanism that put him in Baltimore. New York gets the historical edge because it monetized the rights while Boston realized no documented on-court return from the purchase.
On October 13, 1948, the New York Knicks sold Stan Stutz's player rights to the Boston Celtics for cash. Basketball-Reference records the same transaction on the New York, Boston and league transaction pages, and the Ned Irish and Walter Brown executive ledgers confirm the rights sale from both front offices. The cash amount is not preserved in the reviewed public record.
The difficulty for Boston is that the purchased rights did not turn into documented Celtics playing time. Stutz's 1948-49 player record lists 59 games for the Baltimore Bullets at 6.3 points and 1.4 assists per game, with 1.1 win shares. Basketball-Reference does not show a Boston regular-season appearance for him that year.
New York's return was cash with no surviving public amount. That keeps the exact financial benefit unknowable, but the Knicks did convert the rights into consideration and then proceeded without Stutz. New York finished 32-28 in 1948-49, placed second in the BAA Eastern Division and reached the Eastern Division Finals. The team therefore remained competitive after selling a player who had been a regular over the prior two seasons.
Stutz still had useful basketball left, as his 59-game Baltimore season demonstrates, so Boston's interest was reasonable. The problem is realized value. The Celtics' side of this specific transaction produced no documented regular-season games, while New York received cash and suffered no obvious collapse tied to Stutz's departure. The incomplete record between Boston's acquisition and Stutz's Baltimore season limits confidence in assigning blame to the Celtics, but it does not change the measurable outcome of the rights purchase.
Knicks Win — New York B+, Boston C. New York sold Stan Stutz's player rights to Boston on October 13, 1948 for cash. The Knicks, Celtics and league transaction logs agree on the rights sale, but the cash amount is not preserved. Stutz never appeared in a regular-season game for Boston after the purchase; his 1948-49 stat line belongs to the Baltimore Bullets, where he played 59 games and averaged 6.3 points and 1.4 assists. The reviewed transaction sources do not document the intervening roster mechanism that put him in Baltimore.