The Exchange
Basketball-Reference's Seattle, Philadelphia and league transaction logs all identify the September 29, 1986 counterparty as the Philadelphia 76ers, not the New York Knicks carried by the legacy archive entry. Seattle traded Tim McCormick and Danny Vranes to Philadelphia for Clemon Johnson and a 1989 first-round pick. John Nash's executive transaction ledger records the same package. Correcting the partner is structural, not cosmetic: every asset-routing key, team list and grade must point to Philadelphia before the trade can be evaluated safely.
Seattle Return
Clemon Johnson supplied immediate rotation value. He played 78 games with seven starts for Seattle in 1986-87 and 74 games with 26 starts in 1987-88, giving the Sonics useful frontcourt depth while the draft asset matured. The larger payoff came in 1989. Seattle's draft ledger identifies the incoming Philadelphia first-rounder as the No. 17 pick, which the Sonics used on Shawn Kemp. Kemp became a six-time NBA All-Star, earned three All-NBA Second Team selections and formed the core partnership with Gary Payton on the 1995-96 team that won 64 games and reached the NBA Finals. That is direct downstream value from the pick acquired in this transaction, so it belongs in the hindsight grade rather than being treated as unrelated draft luck.
Philadelphia Return
McCormick was a legitimate return, not filler. In 1986-87 he played 81 games, started 79, averaged 13.2 points and 7.8 rebounds, and gave Philadelphia a dependable interior starter. Vranes had a smaller role, appearing in 58 games with six starts that season and 57 games with five starts in 1987-88. The 76ers therefore received immediate NBA production from both outgoing Seattle players, with McCormick carrying most of the value. That keeps Philadelphia well above a failing grade even though neither player approached Kemp's eventual impact.
Final Verdict
Seattle receives an A+ because the transaction combined two seasons of useful Clemon Johnson depth with a first-round pick that became one of the defining players in franchise history. Philadelphia receives a C because McCormick delivered real starter-level production and Vranes added rotation minutes, but the club surrendered the future pick that became Kemp. The final verdict is Seattle SuperSonics Win. The analysis credits only the directly traceable 1989 pick outcome and Kemp's Seattle career; it does not inflate Seattle's side with unrelated later transactions.