The Exchange
On June 20, 1970, the defending champion New York Knicks sent Nate Bowman and Mike Silliman to the expansion Buffalo Braves. Basketball-Reference's league ledger, Knicks transaction page and executive records describe Buffalo's return as cash. Contemporary and franchise media guides complicate the paperwork: Buffalo's 1971 guide says Silliman was acquired for future considerations, while a later Clippers franchise guide says Bowman and Silliman came for future considerations or a future draft choice. Pro Sports Transactions preserves still more alternate wording. Those entries describe competing versions of the same return, not four separate assets, so this review consolidates them into one disputed non-player consideration rather than counting each alternative.
Buffalo Return
Bowman gave the new franchise 44 games in 1970-71. He averaged 11.0 minutes, 3.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists while producing 0.0 win shares in Basketball-Reference's accounting. The role was larger than his final Knicks season only at the margins: Buffalo needed frontcourt bodies, but Bob Kauffman, John Hummer and Cornell Warner handled far more of the meaningful center and forward workload. Bowman left Buffalo as a free agent after the season and played 18 ABA games for Pittsburgh in 1971-72, so the Braves did not receive a downstream trade asset.
Silliman was a different kind of gamble. New York had drafted the West Point forward in 1966, but military service delayed his NBA debut until Buffalo acquired his rights. The Braves' 1971 media guide highlighted his Army career and 1968 Olympic gold-medal captaincy, while also noting a toe operation before his rookie season. He ultimately played 36 games, averaging 10.2 minutes, 2.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists with 0.3 win shares. He became a free agent after that single NBA season.
New York Return
The Knicks' exact compensation cannot be reproduced with enough certainty to pretend the historical record is cleaner than it is. Basketball-Reference and executive logs say cash. Buffalo's contemporary media guide uses future considerations for Silliman, and the later Clippers franchise guide describes the combined acquisition as future considerations or a future draft choice. No verified player outcome or durable downstream asset was identified from that consideration in this research pass. The archive therefore records a single disputed non-player return and does not convert alternate source wording into multiple assets.
Hindsight Comparison
Buffalo received 80 combined regular-season games and 849 minutes from Bowman and Silliman, but only 0.3 combined win shares. Both were gone after the Braves' inaugural season. New York, meanwhile, moved fringe depth after a championship season and received some form of non-player consideration without giving up a player who became a long-term Buffalo building block.
That makes the original slight-Knicks verdict too confident, but it also does not justify swinging the result toward Buffalo. The Braves got usable roster bodies for year one; the Knicks shed two low-impact assets for compensation whose precise form remains disputed. Neither side created durable realized value from the transaction.
Final Verdict
Even Trade, C+/C+. Buffalo receives a C+ for 80 combined games from Bowman and Silliman, but neither player became a lasting piece and their combined impact was minimal. New York receives a C+ for turning fringe depth into a non-player consideration without losing meaningful long-term production. Confidence is medium because the June 20 date and player movement are well documented while the exact return conflicts across historical sources. The verdict reflects only verified transaction terms and realized team value.