Start With What Changed Hands
The June 19, 1986 transaction between Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs is easiest to evaluate by reconstructing the trade before judging the result. On June 19, 1986, Portland acquired Steve Johnson from San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Mychal Thompson; rights to Larry Krystkowiak. The list of assets identifies 3 distinct pieces: Steve Johnson, Mychal Thompson, and rights to Larry Krystkowiak. Portland Trail Blazers received Steve Johnson, while San Antonio Spurs received Mychal Thompson and rights to Larry Krystkowiak. That distinction matters because a trade can combine players, draft rights, picks, cash, or transaction mechanisms whose value is not interchangeable. The retrospective grade therefore follows what the specific assets became and how much useful basketball or asset value each side ultimately captured, rather than treating every line item as equal simply because it appeared in the same transaction.
The Case Behind the Grades
The verdict is Spurs Win, with Portland Trail Blazers graded C+ and San Antonio Spurs graded A. Portland received Steve Johnson while San Antonio received Mychal Thompson and additional draft value. The Spurs' A grade versus Portland's C+ reflects a clearly stronger completed return and supports a Spurs Win. Those findings define the direction of the evaluation. The relevant comparison is Steve Johnson for Portland Trail Blazers against Mychal Thompson and rights to Larry Krystkowiak for San Antonio Spurs. Roster need, contract timing, competitive window, and front-office intent can help explain why a team accepted a particular return, but they do not replace the realized-value record. Based on the results, the stronger side is San Antonio Spurs; the grade shows the size of that advantage without requiring every asset in the winning package to have become a major success.
Why One Package Finished Ahead
San Antonio Spurs' return centered on Mychal Thompson and rights to Larry Krystkowiak. The available evidence explains the advantage this way: Portland received Steve Johnson while San Antonio received Mychal Thompson and additional draft value. The Spurs' A grade versus Portland's C+ reflects a clearly stronger completed return and supports a Spurs Win. That is the core support for the A grade. The point is not merely that San Antonio Spurs received a package with a recognizable name or a particular number of pieces. It is that the assets credited to that side produced the more consequential result in the historical record. A winning package may derive most of its value from one player, one draft conversion, or one asset that later created additional leverage. Here, the trade details are strong enough to place San Antonio Spurs on the favorable side of Spurs Win while keeping the evaluation tied to the exchange itself.
What the Losing Return Still Contained
Portland Trail Blazers received Steve Johnson. That package still has to be evaluated on its own terms rather than dismissed because the verdict favors the other side. The grade for Portland Trail Blazers is C+, which measures the completed return against what San Antonio Spurs obtained. A lower grade can still include a useful player, a pick, financial flexibility, or a defensible short-term objective; the issue is whether those benefits matched the value surrendered. In this case, the analysis does not place the two returns on equal footing. The gap between San Antonio Spurs' A and Portland Trail Blazers' C+ reflects the difference in realized production, asset conversion, or durable value documented for Mychal Thompson and rights to Larry Krystkowiak versus Steve Johnson.
Final Verdict
Spurs Win. The grades are Portland Trail Blazers C+ and San Antonio Spurs A. The trade itself was: Portland Trail Blazers received Steve Johnson, while San Antonio Spurs received Mychal Thompson and rights to Larry Krystkowiak. Portland received Steve Johnson while San Antonio received Mychal Thompson and additional draft value. The Spurs' A grade versus Portland's C+ reflects a clearly stronger completed return and supports a Spurs Win. That evidence is enough to preserve the verdict without rewriting the trade around hindsight that is unrelated to the assets actually exchanged. The grade evaluates the completed transaction, not whether every front-office motive was unreasonable on the day of the deal. On that basis, San Antonio Spurs produced the stronger realized return, and the A/C+ grade relationship captures how clearly that side finished ahead.