For one of the first times in NBA history last June, no active NBA player was traded on draft night. The last Thursday in June is generally one of the most active trade days across the NBA landscape but the wheeling and dealing was minimized as teams elected to maximize cap space and their options as they waited for how the free agency landscape would play out a week later.
The draft occurs before free agency has been the order of operations across the NBA offseason for over 30 years. Yet, this summer, there has been some momentum to change the status quo. Zach Lowe of ESPN.com reported back in June that the Rockets had proposed putting free agency before the draft for future offseasons.
It's unclear who first had the idea to mix up the NBA offseason calendar, but Celtics director of player personnel Austin Ainge has always been at the forefront of the movement. He's been talking about it for years within the C's organization and it's evident that the idea is becoming popular among other franchises, such as the Rockets.
BostonSportsJournal.com caught up with Ainge recently to learn more about the case for the switch and what would need to happen for it to become reality.
When did this idea first come to you since it's clear you are one of the originators on this topic?
Ainge: I'm sure other people had come up with it but I wanna say three or four years ago, I was frustrated by it. I said, 'Why is it this way?' No one had any answers for me. It was just that 30 years ago, someone put it that way.
What's the strongest case you try to make with other teams when convincing them that the switch would make sense for the league?
Ainge: As I've tweeted, the NBA decision-making process goes in reverse of the calendar. The franchise-changing free agents dictate what you do as a franchise, whether you're in rebuild mode or win now mode. The draft is the biggest trade market of the year and it would be nice to know for most teams to know the direction of your franchise before having to make all these trades that are available on draft night.
Then, you combine that with the fact that the draft happens when the new cap year hasn't flipped over. You have 30-40 percent of your money dead. You can't sign players with it, you can't trade for players with it, nor can you trade the players under last year's contracts. They are all sitting there dead. No matter what kind of moves you want to make, it really makes it hard to make the moves.
In this year's draft, there were no active players traded on draft night. Do things like that happening help the idea gain momentum and convince them that following the status quo isn't necessarily the right move?
Ainge: I think it would be a relatively easy change. I think it benefits both the league and the players. I think it helps everybody and I have not heard great arguments against it. As more people consider it carefully and look over it, I think it will gain more popularity.
Do you think it's something where the league would have to announce it a couple years in advance to help teams prepare or would that not be necessary?
Ainge: The logistics of it, those are good questions. If we all wanted to do it, it wouldn't be that hard. It wouldn't put any team at a strategical disadvantage, right? It can help teams on both ends. If you're a good team, a rebuilding team or someone in the middle, it can help everyone equally. I don't feel like if we wanted to implement it, it wouldn't be that hard. Even the calendar issues, if we get the accounts in the room, we can figure out a way to switch them without changing the rest of the summer calendar. Some people are worried about pushing summer league and we have these FIBA windows with Team USA and other national teams. We can pretty much keep the calendar the same way it is, just flip the two dates. I think it will work great.
What would need to happen for it to become official? Would it go through the competition committee or the ownership level?
Ainge: We would have to have a majority of the teams and the players union on board to keep pushing. There would be votes and I believe it would have to be collectively bargained.
Other NBA News and Notes
- Nice to see Danny Ainge and former Celtic assistant coach Mike Longabardi in attendance in Springfield on Friday night in support of Ray Allen's induction into the Hall of Fame. Larry Bird was also on hand to for the induction of former C's power forward Dino Radja. You can check out their induction speeches here.
- An interesting situation to keep an eye on this year when it comes to Anthony Davis: He's reportedly cut ties with his agent and the frontrunner to land him is Rich Paul, the close friend and agent of LeBron James. Davis will be eligible for a supermax extension with the Pelicans next summer.
- Some intriguing below the radar movement this week with roster moves as the Pelicans attempted to sign Clipper swingman Tyrone Wallace to a contract. Wallace was a two-way player last year so he was a restricted free agent. The Clippers, despite having 16 players with guaranteed contracts already on the roster, opted to match. They'll have to cut or trade two of those contracts before training camp.
- French big man Boris Diaw officially retired from the NBA after spending last year playing in France. His last season in the NBA was with the Jazz during the 2016-17 campaign.
- In the 'no surprise' department, the Wolves reportedly have interest in adding Luol Deng to their roster after he was waived this past week. Tom Thibodeau has already brought aboard Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson from his ex-Bulls roster so Deng would be one step closer to reuniting that starting five. Look for Joakim Noah to head there as well after the Knicks waive him at some point in the next 12 months.
- A deserving contract extension for Nate McMillan with the Pacers after he helped Indy shocked the NBA world last year and build a playoff team after trading away Paul George. I was a big McMillan doubter before the year started but he coaches a fun uptempo offense that brought the best out of Victor Oladipo. The pressure will be on this year to prove it wasn't a fluke but with more talent across the roster (Tyreke Evans, Kyle O'Quinn) the Pacers should be at least the No. 5 seed again in the East.