Question about pick protection.

[coolness]

Can a pick be protected in 2011 or unprotected in 2013.

I skipped 2012. Is that okay?

Seems like with the possibility of a lockout season that it might make sense.
Even if it doesn't make sense, is it legal? I never see it.

[Dunkenstein]

There are no limits to the amount of protection attached to any given year of a draft pick owed from one team to another. It is just usual practice for protection to either stay the same or become less restrictive from one year to the next.

[CubbieMike]

Yeah it varies. As a Bulls fan, I know the pick they got from Charlotte last year for Tyrus Thomas is a top 14 protected pick this year, and devolves every year, culminating in a possible unprotected pick in 2015.