FanPost

Why No NBA Style Draft Day Trades?


My 2 favorite teams are the Timberwolves and Vikings and I absolutely love to see the building of a winning team. As a matter of fact, actually watching the Wolves during the NBA season has long been FAR less entertaining for me than speculating on their moves during their off-season. Granted, the Vikes haven't done a whole lot better recently but we have had some very dominant teams over the last several decades and 2009 was an absolute blast. What I'm trying to get at is I pay very close attention to both teams and their moves to improve their teams every off-season, especially the drafts for both leagues.

Anyway, it's not uncommon for NBA or NFL teams to make trades on draft day. The difference is in the NFL it's ALWAYS a straight up trade BEFORE the selections are made. A typical NFL draft day trade may be as follows: Team A trades pick #8 (before selecting a player at #8) for pick #12 plus pick #48 and the deal is done. It's short, sweet and simple.

In the NBA it's probably more common that team A making a trade first selects a player for the team it's trading with. The example may be: Team A selects Trey Burke at #9 and trades that player for Shabazz Muhammad and Giorgu Dieng, Utah's selections at #14 & #21. The trade is supposedly done before Utah makes those selections but from what I understand is not completed unless team A is happy with the players selected for them as well. This arrangement would assure team A of getting the players THEY want as well as what team B wanted before consummating the trade.

Say the Vikings had their hopes on getting a specific player such as Derek Carr (not necessarily my call to get Derek Carr) for example and looking at the draft board realized that the 17 teams after their #8 selection had no possible need for a 1st round QB. Barring a trade by some QB hungry team it would be a safe bet for the Vikes to trade with the Chiefs at #23, picking up additional picks AND still being able to get their guy in Carr. The entire trade would become a disaster if, say the Browns traded up from their pick at #26 to pick #20, snagging Carr before the Vikings had a chance to exercise that #23 selection. Their best laid plans would have left them scrambling to pick up the pieces, being trumped by the Browns.

In that EXACT same scenario why wouldn't the Vikings make a gentleman's agreement with the Chiefs at #23, select the player they wanted to trade up for at #8 (as long as it was a player the Vikings wouldn't mind being stuck with if something unexpected happened) and when the Chiefs #23 rolled around and Derek Carr was still available consummate the trade. This would protect the Vikings from having a team desperate for Carr themselves like the Browns perhaps from attempting to scoop him up at #20 because they were fully expecting him to fall to them at #26.

Is there something I'm missing here? It seems like this type of thing would be a no brainer but I've NEVER seen it happen.

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.