Seattle acquired Wally Walker from Portland on November 11, 1977 for a 1978 first-round pick and a 1979 second-rounder. Walker became a durable SuperSonics rotation forward, playing 350 regular-season games across five seasons and contributing to the 1979 NBA championship team. Portland used the first-rounder at No. 7 on Ron Brewer, who played 192 Trail Blazers games and averaged 13.3 points as a rookie and 15.7 in his second season. Portland then traded Brewer to San Antonio in December 1980 for Mike Gale and a 1982 first-round pick that became No. 18 Ricky Pierce, extending the asset branch beyond Brewer's direct tenure. The second-round pick became No. 40 Andrew Fields, who never played an NBA regular-season game. Walker's championship contribution keeps Seattle's return strong, but Portland received a productive lottery-level scorer and then recycled him into another first-round asset. The Blazers get the narrow hindsight edge.
Portland, Seattle and the league transaction ledgers all record the November 11, 1977 trade the same way. The Trail Blazers sent Wally Walker to the SuperSonics for Seattle's 1978 first-round pick and a 1979 second-round pick. The first-rounder became No. 7 Ron Brewer. The second-rounder became No. 40 Andrew Fields. There are no cash terms or conditional clauses to reconcile.
Walker played 68 games for Seattle in 1977-78 after the trade, averaging 6.5 points and 3.0 rebounds. He returned for 60 games in 1978-79 and was part of the SuperSonics team that won the NBA championship. His role remained useful beyond the title season. Walker played 70 games in 1979-80, all 82 in 1980-81 and 70 in 1981-82. Across five Seattle seasons, he appeared in 350 regular-season games and averaged 7.3 points and 3.3 rebounds. Seattle eventually recovered another asset when it traded Walker to Houston in October 1982 for a 1984 second-round pick. This review records that later return without overstating it; Walker's main value had already come through five years of service and a championship run.
Portland used the No. 7 pick on Ron Brewer. He played 81 games as a rookie in 1978-79, averaging 13.3 points, then started all 82 games in 1979-80 and averaged 15.7 points. Brewer's Portland role declined early in 1980-81, but he still played 29 games before the Trail Blazers moved him. In total he appeared in 192 regular-season games for Portland and provided substantially more scoring per game than Walker did in Seattle.
On December 19, 1980, Portland traded Brewer to San Antonio for Mike Gale and a 1982 first-round pick. That pick later became No. 18 Ricky Pierce. This review does not credit Pierce's entire NBA career to the original Seattle trade, because Portland had to move Brewer to obtain the pick. The chain still matters: the No. 7 selection produced more than two seasons of Brewer and then returned another first-round asset instead of expiring without value.
Portland used the 1979 second-rounder at No. 40 on Andrew Fields. Basketball-Reference lists Fields as drafted by the Trail Blazers but records no NBA regular-season career. That branch ended without realized NBA playing value.
Blazers Edge, A/A-. Portland receives an A because the No. 7 pick became a productive scorer for 192 games and was then converted into Gale plus another first-round pick. Seattle receives an A- because Walker gave the club 350 games across five seasons and was part of the 1979 championship roster. The title context makes Seattle's return genuinely valuable, but Portland extracted more reusable asset value from the outgoing picks. Confidence is high.