More and more NBA teams are willing to put more first-round draft picks in trade packages for star players in recent years. Less than 10 years ago, most of them preferred to save the picks, which equaled future hopes of drafting their own stars, for their own use and traded players.
The league has presented and implemented various rules to keep super teams from being assembled, including the salary cap and the luxury tax among other restrictions. The effects are debatable because powerhouses with deep pockets always found their way around the rules.
For example, the luxury tax didn't stop the Los Angeles Clippers or the Golden State Warriors from investing to build dominant franchises.
Teams are not allowed to trade back-to-back draft picks, so they put swaps in the packages, like what the Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Timberwolves did during this offseason.
Both the league and the teams have been working hard to outsmart each other.
The Brooklyn Nets drain their future first-round draft picks to trade for Paul Pierce (#34) and Kevin Garnett (#2) with the Brooklyn Nets. /CFP
The Golden State Warriors pay record $362 million of salaries and luxury tax to win the NBA Championship in the 2021-22 season. /CFP
The Minnesota Timberwolves set the bar painfully high for the NBA trade market by acquiring Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz. /CFP
Host: Li Xiang
Guest: Matthew Watson
Cover designer: Feng Yuan
Chief editor: Chen Ran
Supervisor: Zhang Shilei