NBA Rule on Trading Future 1st Round Picks

[Admin]

Since there seems to be some confusion about this, I want to make a sticky post so that the confusion will get cleared up.

http://www.cbafaq.co...larycap.htm#Q84

Teams are restricted from trading away future first round draft picks in consecutive years. This is known as the "Ted Stepien Rule." Stepien owned the Cavs from 1980-83, and made a series of bad trades (such as the 1982 trade mentioned above) that cost the Cavs several years' first round picks. As a result of Stepien's ineptitude, teams are now prevented from making trades which might leave them without a first round pick in consecutive future years.

The Stepien rule applies only to future first round picks. For example, if this is the 2011-12 season, then a team can trade its 2012 first round pick without regard to whether they had traded their 2011 pick, since their 2011 pick is no longer a future pick. But they can't trade away both their 2012 and 2013 picks, since both are future picks. Teams sometimes work around this rule by trading first round picks in alternate years.

Hopefully this clears up this issue for those of you who doubted whether or not we can get a 2013 1st from the Nets (without regard to the fact that they also have Houston's pick).

[niremetal]

Since there seems to be some confusion about this, I want to make a sticky post so that the confusion will get cleared up.Hopefully this clears up this issue for those of you who doubted whether or not we can get a 2013 1st from the Nets (without regard to the fact that they also have Houston's pick).

Fun fact - the guy who "abused" the laissez faire regulations of the pre-Stepien Rule era the most by trading mediocre veterans to the Cavs in exchange for lottery picks? The then-young GM of Dallas, Rick Sund.In September 1980, he traded Mike Bratz to the Cavs for the Cavs' 1984 1st round pick. That turned out to be #4 overall and Sund used it on Sam Perkins.A month later, he traded Richard Washington and Jerome Whitehead to the Cavs for the Cavs' 1986 1st round pick (ended up being #7 overall - Roy Tarpley) and a 1983 1st Round pick (from Atlanta, which ended up being #11 overall - Derek Harper).Finally, three months after that, Sund traded Geoff Huston to the Cavs for their 1985 1st Round pick. That turned out to be #7 overall and was used to select Detlef Schrempf.Not a single one of the veterans Stepien acquired from Dallas had even a memorable season after the trades. All of the picks acquired turned out to be lottery picks that were used on solid NBA players, with Schrempf becoming a borderline Hall of Famer and the rest becoming borderline All-Stars. The Mavs made the playoffs 5 straight years starting in 1983, the first year one of the draftees played. The drafted players all played significant roles on the Mavs team (led by Mark Aguirre and Rolando Blackman) that came within 1 game of the making the NBA Finals in 1988 (lost to the Lakers in the WCF).The Cavs were useless in the early-to-mid 80s, only turning it around after they acquired the #1 overall pick in the 1986 Draft - a pick that was itself the product of a two-step-Stepien. The Sixers had acquired the pick in 1979 from the Clippers in exchange for Joe Bryant, and then traded the pick to the Cavs of Draft Eve in exchange for Roy Hinson. Both Bryant and Hinson had unremarkable careers after their respective trades. The Cavs used the pick on Brad Daugherty, who (like Tarpley and everyone else in the 1986 Draft Class) saw his career cut depressingly short.Which once again proves my theory - Germans love David Hasselhoff. Edited July 2, 2012 by niremetal

[lethalweapon3]

Yeah, I recall it being referred to as the Rick Sund Rule. Named after the fleecer.~lw3