Buying Picks

[deNIEd]

I know there is a maximum 3 million dollar price limit on picks, but suppose Orlando or Portland, bought a series of 2nd round picks from the Hornets

i.e.
$3 mil for 2011 2nd
$3 mil for 2013 2nd
$3 mil for 2015 2nd

Or something of nature....is this allowed?

[Three34]

Yes, as long as you're not suggesting it'd be a lure in any Chris Paul deal or something of that nature. But since when did teams sell future picks? Particularly second rounders?

[loserX]

I'm pretty sure the league would step in and claim that it's a violation of the CBA. On its surface it's a pretty blatant attempt to get around the $3M cash maximum, and I doubt you could convince the league otherwise.

[Three34]

If used as coercion for something else, yes. But if they're actually buying those three picks, and just those three picks, it'd probably be OK. Hard to explain, though.

[loserX]

If used as coercion for something else, yes. But if they're actually buying those three picks, and just those three picks, it'd probably be OK. Hard to explain, though.

I dunno, it's still 3 second round picks for $9M all transacted between the same two teams. If I were a league exec you'd have an awfully hard time convincing me that those were three completely independent transactions made in good faith, regardless of what they were used for.

There's no point in having the $3M limit at all if you can just get around it by breaking trades into smaller parts and including the $3M maximum in each of them.

[deNIEd]

Let's use Portland, New Orleans, and Chris Paul as an example. What I'm wondering is, suppose New Orleans really only cares about the money involved in the deal. Could the two teams orchestrate a multi-part trade, that involved some players from Portland to New Orleans for CP3. As well as Portland essentially saying we'll give you $9-12 million on top of that, by "buying" second round picks.

Ultimately something like...

Trade 1
Por gives: Player A, B, C, 3mil cash
Noh gives: CP3

Trade 2
Por gives: $3 mil cash
Noh gives: 2011 2nd

Trade 3
Por gives: $3 mil cash
Noh gives: 2012 2nd

And so forth. Replace Portland, New Orleans with any two teams

[Three34]

That's the kind of situation I was referring to. That's definitely not possible. But the sale of the picks alone is a poser. I still think it'd be legal, just really weird.

(Academic, really, since no one's selling a 2015 second rounder in 2010.)