Who did we get for KJ? I was trying to remember. Larry Nance?
Just to be clear, it is considered by the Suns' franchise as the best trade they've ever made (or among the very best). It happened at the mid-point of the 1987-88 season. Price had completely out-played and overtaken KJ and Cavs brass figured they were trading Johnson possibly at the peak of his value because he was a high pick that hadn't panned out, but the tantalizing athleticism was there.
So here it was ...
Cavs Received
Larry Nance (28yo)
Mike Saunders (27yo)
1988 1st Round Pick (drafted Randolph Keys)
Suns Received
Kevin Johnson (21yo)
Mark West (27yo)
Tyrone Corbin (24yo)
1988 1st Round Pick (drafted Dan Majerle)
1988 2nd Round Pick (drafted Dean Garrett)
1989 2nd Round Pick (drafted Greg Grant)
Obviously, you look at this and it seems like a disaster for the Cavs. Larry Nance did end up becoming a legend here obviously and the Cavs teams that followed were undoubtedly the best in franchise history until LeBron arrived. Nance made two All-Star Games as a Cavalier (had made one in his 6.5 years with the Suns).
When you look at it as strictly as us acquiring one of the all-time Cavs greats, it lessens the hurt a bit. However, everything else hurts ... Mike Sanders was actually seen as a promising player entering his prime when he was traded here. Not an All-Star or anything, but maybe a good rotation piece. He spent 1.5 years here and his numbers dipped across the board.
Keys was obviously Keys (I think he was with the Cavs for 2 years iirc).
Meanwhile, it wasn't just that Kevin Johnson was a HOF'er, but this trade really kicked off the best run the Suns have ever had. The Suns were 28-54 at the end of the 1988 season. The season following that trade -- 1988-89 -- they were 58-24 and had done a complete 180-degree turn. They lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
KJ averaged 20+ points, 12+ assists and 4+ rebounds per game on 51/10/88 splits in his first full season with the Suns. To put that in perspective, he was at 7 points and 3 assists on 46/22/82 splits off the bench in the 40 games he played with the Cavs prior to the trade. KJ was even better in that first playoff run, going for an efficient 24/12+ in 12 games.
Maybe he would've never been that good in a Cavs uniform and that is something we will never know, but it was absolutely stunning how immediate his transformation was. Cotton Fitzsimmons (Suns coach at the time) deserves a lot of credit there too in his first season as coach.
But, go down the line.... Majerle was a 3x All-Star and a Suns legend. Mark West and Ty Corbin were solid starters on those teams even after Barkley arrived in 1992-93 and they went to The Finals. They won 62 games that year and 54+ from the first full-year after the trade until 1996.
It certainly isn't the perfect comparison to trading one of our two highly drafted PGs, but I would say it should be a lesson in being patient with young guys ... especially young guys who are hard workers and who you've invested a high draft pick into.