While the idea of the NBA adding new teams to the 30 that already exist is attractive on paper for most fans, the reality of how it would happen (at least based on historical precedent) might dampen the enthusiasm of at least some of those fans. It would likely translate into losing one or more players from the franchise that is their primary rooting interest.
Thus, the notion of an NBA return to the city of Seattle and the arrival of the league in places like Mexico City, Mexico or Las Vegas, Nevada, should be presented to fans in the context of what an expansion draft might look like in the real world.
And for the uninitiated, that means each club can protect a number of its players from being selected by the expansion teams while leaving others available, usually around seven or eight players.
That can mean losing key role players, but also salary relief if the expansion front office is looking to accumulate draft capital in exchange for bad contracts, so “losing” such players isn’t always a negative.
Teams can encourage the selection of such players with draft picks, as has happened in previous expansion drafts, as each new team works its way up to rosters of at least a dozen players.
It’s important to note that the existing teams get nothing back when a player is taken in an expansion draft save cap relief.
Basketball News’ Evan Sidery put together a mock expansion draft recently in which a young part of Boston’s roster was selected as part of the thought exercise.
In his version of such an expansion draft, the Celtics protected Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, Grant Williams and Al Horford.
That left JD Davison, Danilo Gallinari, Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard unprotected, and ultimately saw Boston lose Pritchard for nothing, the former Oregon standout was a longer-term upside play behind more established poached guards Ricky Rubio and Monte Morris.
“Hopefully, Pritchard takes the baton from Rubio and Morris as our long-term answer down the road,” posits Sidery.
In the grand scheme of things, losing Pritchard is hardly the toughest blow for Boston’s current designs on an NBA title given he’ll have to work hard for minutes as things stand.
But later on, not having younger talent on cheaper deals able to stay on the floor in some postseason lineups might bite them as their roster gets increasingly expensive.
Something to consider when the topic of NBA expansion comes up, as well.
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