Over the course of this week, we’ve examined the players whose draft rights are currently held by NBA teams, breaking them down division by division.
Some of these players are long retired, meaning their rights hold little value. Others are draft-and-stash prospects who NBA teams intend – or at least hope – to bring stateside at some point in the coming years.
There are also many players who have continued to play international ball since being drafted, and may never end up in the NBA. Those players can be useful when teams look to make trades. A team completing a trade in the NBA has to send and receive something in each deal, so those draft rights often come in handy as placeholders.
We saw a perfect example of the usefulness of NBA draft rights earlier today — the Pelicans had agreed to send Quincy Pondexter to Chicago, along with a second-round pick and cash to sweeten the deal for the Bulls. New Orleans wasn’t getting back any pieces of consequence as part of the swap, but the Bulls needed to send something, so they included the draft rights to 2011 second-rounder Ater Majok.
Having covered all six divisions now, we’ll keep these draft rights lists updated throughout the 2017/18 season if more draft-and-stash players are traded — we’ve already made sure the Bulls’ and Pelicans’ lists are up to date following the Matok swap.
Here’s the full breakdown:
EASTERN CONFERENCE:
WESTERN CONFERENCE: