While the reform is designed to further discourage tanking and flatten lottery odds across the league, Memphis appears to be the franchise most directly affected by one of its unintended consequences. Evan Wasch, NBA executive vice president, head of basketball strategy and growth, explained how the restrictions with the Utah pick travels to the acquiring team in the new system. The league didn’t want to create an imbalance in value on traded and non-traded picks. “If you were to grandfather in already traded picks, it essentially becomes a windfall for the teams that own those picks,” Wasch said. “Unlike other picks, they will be subject to potential benefit or upside of the restrictions, but none of the downside.”
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: “If you were to grandfather in already traded picks, …