Flash3 wrote:Can we trade 2 consecutive 1st rd picks? I know we can't trade our 2010 pick right now, because our 09 pick is with Minny. But, can we trade the 2010 pick after the 09 draft is done with? How does that process play out?
Larry Coon wrote: In addition, teams are restricted from trading away future first round draft picks in consecutive years. This is called the "Ted Stepien Rule." Stepien owned the Cavs from 1980-83, and made a series of bad trades that cost the Cavs several years' first round picks. As a result of Stepien's ineptitude, teams are now prevented from making trades which might leave them without a future first-round draft pick in consecutive years.
This rule applies only to future first round picks. For example, if this is the 2005-06 season, then teams can trade their 2006 first round pick without regard to whether they had a 2005 pick, since their 2005 pick is no longer a future pick. But they can't trade away both their 2006 and 2007 picks, since both are future picks. Teams sometimes work around this rule by trading first round picks in alternate years.
In addition, teams are required to have only a first round pick, and not necessarily their first round pick. So teams may trade away their own future picks in consecutive years if they have another team's first round pick in one of those years.
http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q71
So to answer your question, as long as you have a pick in 2011, you can trade your 2010 pick after the 2009 pick/draft.
