Would you do it for four future seconds?
NBA second-round trade landscape
Toronto acquired the No. 31 pick — the first of the second round — in its trade deadline deal that brought Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett in exchange for OG Anunoby. “The Raptors are sitting on gold,” one Eastern Conference staffer said.
Toronto could theoretically field trade inquiries for much longer than the four minutes the Raptors will have once the second round begins. Utah, currently holding the No. 32 pick, has been engaged in various trade scenarios to move up into the first round, according to sources. All of Milwaukee (No. 33), Portland (No. 34) and San Antonio (No. 35) are considered creative front offices that will be weighing deals with those picks, sources said. For those teams to stay, or any team looking to move in, there will be plenty of value to add second-round picks onto expensive rosters, with tax savings becoming more and more essential under this new CBA’s second apron and its rash of penalties.
“If you can get a player you like that might be able to help you on a team-favorable second-round contract, it’s pretty interesting,” one general manager told Yahoo Sports. “You can move up, you can move down.”
Price points for a pick in the top of this year’s second round could reach as high as four future second-round picks, multiple team executives told Yahoo Sports. There is precedent of Indiana, which holds the No. 36 pick in Thursday's second round, receiving three second-round picks from Miami in 2019, so the Heat could use the No. 32 pick to select KZ Okpala.
This year, agents are preparing to spend Wednesday night discussing with teams the potential guaranteed money their clients would be searching for, should teams ultimately select their client with a top pick in the second round. A player could also foreseeably get drafted at a certain slot in the second round if he agrees to sign a two-way contract in advance. The hours where Wednesday bleeds into Thursday morning may be rife with clandestine conversations that shape which players teams select before the second round even begins. How smoothly and effectively that process unfolds could be a key determining factor for team personnel on whether they would support the continued two-night format for the NBA Draft in the future.