(Illustration by Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports)
For at least a year, the NBA Draft will take place over two nights, beginning with the first round at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday from Barclays Center before the second round concludes Thursday with a broadcast from the studios. from KeynoteUSA at the Seaport in Manhattan.
This will be a test for a new agreement reached during the league’s last collective bargaining with the players union and, therefore, the first results of this new format will prove fundamental in shaping the future of the second round of the Draft of the NBA. Under this new structure, teams will have all night and well into the following afternoon to negotiate trades and possible salary structures with player agents for draft prospects, while the second round will now also offer four minutes per pick instead of the usual two minutes.
For this move to occur in a draft that features a lot of uncertainty about Wednesday’s first round, team executives are preparing for a significant amount of trade activity during the second round, league sources told Yahoo Sports. The NBA anticipates inviting several prospects from its green room guest list to the second-round broadcast, sources said, in case they are not selected among the first 30 picks. And there are players like Houston point guard Jamal Shead and UCLA big man Adem Bona who have clear first-round grades for certain teams, sources said, but who also could be available in the mid-30s. “We’re trying to determine who will be there,” said an executive from a team chosen from the upper sections of the second round, “and it’s impossible.”
The introduction of an extra day has also prompted several NBA teams to consult with NFL personnel, league sources told Yahoo Sports, for any possible ideas on how to handle an overnight interround window. early morning. The NFL Draft takes place over three days. “Is there some trick that we are not aware of?” asked an NBA official who spoke with an NFL team.
An NFC executive who spoke with three NBA teams attempted to enlighten each of them.
“I’ll be honest,” the executive told Yahoo Sports. “I’d be surprised if any team didn’t do it (check the NFL).”
The Philadelphia 76ers are owned by a management group led by Joshua Harris, who also led a recent acquisition of the Washington Commanders. All teams under the Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment umbrella collaborate regularly, and the Sixers and Commanders held a meeting about how to approach the second night of this year’s NBA Draft, according to a source with knowledge of those discussions. Philadelphia is scheduled to pick at No. 41 on Thursday night.
Several teams in the first five picks of the NBA second round also consulted with NFL staff about how to best maximize those trade opportunities, sources said.
NFL executives share insights with NBA teams
The NFC executive who advised three NFL teams talked less about how teams should spend Thursday morning and more about how they shouldn’t.
The executive urged teams to weigh contingencies and establish their trading parameters days, weeks and sometimes even months before the draft. Of course, a longer draft allows more time to analyze possibilities and “more bandwidth to do things.” But the best decisions will be sound and based on data collected before emotions run high in the draft, the executive said. Know what a “winning” proposal would look like, they urged; Also know when you are willing to “lose” on a model because his team is eager to land a potential client.
“Maybe your organization is very interested in that player (so) you just say, ‘Fuck it,'” the executive said. “But at least it’s been discussed before, and it’s not a moment in the draft where people are just like, ‘Oh shit, what the fuck just happened?'”
Some NFL executives surveyed by Yahoo Sports disagreed on how useful his advice would be for the NBA.
NFL teams agree to trade picks or pick packages much more frequently than they trade players during the draft. They crave first-round picks with a cost-controlled fifth year, but can find immediate starters long after the 100th pick.
A pool of 259 NFL Draft picks last year dwarfed the 58 available to NBA teams this year.
Filtering any information through its proper lens is key.
“It’s a completely different dynamic with the NBA,” one AFC general manager told Yahoo Sports, “given the small pool of players and the steep slope of talent demotion in their draft.”
A second NFC executive wondered if the second day of the NBA draft will be more like the third and final day of the NFL than the second, considering how much more medical and personal information NFL teams have with less influence from agents than representatives of NBA players, and the enormously different breadth of trading algorithms.
Is this comparison apples to oranges?
“I think it’s apples and melons,” NFC’s No. 2 executive told Yahoo Sports. “It’s a completely different calculation, but it’s a fascinating question.”
NBA Second Round Trade Outlook
Toronto acquired the 31st pick, the first of the second round, in its trade deadline deal that brought in Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett in exchange for OG Anunoby. “The Raptors are sitting on gold,” said one Eastern Conference staffer.
In theory, Toronto could be fielding trade inquiries for far longer than the four minutes the Raptors will get once the second round begins. Utah, which currently holds the No. 32 pick, has been involved in several trade scenarios to advance to the first round, sources said. Milwaukee (No. 33), Portland (No. 34) and San Antonio (No. 35) are all considered creative front offices that will weigh deals with those picks, sources said. For those teams to stay — or any team looking to move — there will be plenty of value in adding second-round picks to expensive rosters, and tax savings will become increasingly essential under the second apron of this new CBA and its raft of penalties.
“If you can get a player that you like and that can help you get a team-friendly second-round contract, it’s pretty interesting,” one general manager told Yahoo Sports. “You can ascend or descend.”
Price points for a pick at the top of this year’s second round could reach as many as four future second-round picks, several team executives told Yahoo Sports. There is precedent for Indiana, which has the 36th pick in Thursday’s second round, receiving three second-round picks from Miami in 2019, so the Heat could use the 32nd 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 looking for, should teams ultimately select their client with a top pick in the second round. Predictably, a player could also be selected at a certain spot in the second round if he agrees to sign a two-way contract up front. The hours when Wednesday turns into Thursday morning can be filled with clandestine conversations that determine which players teams select before the second round even begins. How smoothly and efficiently that process plays out could be a key determining factor in whether team personnel support the continued two-night format for the NBA Draft in the future.
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