NBA Rumors: NBA Draft Picks After Two Up For Sale

By Bret Stuter | Jun 6, 2016

May 17, 2016; New York, NY, USA; General view during the NBA draft lottery at New York Hilton Midtown. The Philadelphia 76ers received the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

Philadelphia 76ers are not alone in marketing NBA Draft picks, as the word in sports circles is that draft picks after two are going up for sale

The Philadelphia 76ers have the first overall pick of this NBA draft, and the 24 and 26 picks in the same draft. But is there room for more? Not if you listen to the words of Bryan Colangelo, who has been doing virtually everything short of placing a “for sale” sign on the two latter round draft picks.

But in this NBA draft, the lack of premium talent after the top few picks has become discouraging to the teams sitting in the middle selections. Compounding the issue this year is the number of teams sitting on multiple draft picks in the first round. The 2016 NBA draft is viewed by many in the league as having a narrow “elite talent” band, a narrow “could start” band, a wide “project” band, and a surprising “great value to draft and stash” band at the end of first round through the second round of this draft.

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Of 30 picks in this first round, there are many teams who are picking multiple times: Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors, and Denver Nuggets. If you throw in the second round, that number doubles.

Some of those teams are saturated with young talent and are building towards post season. Does the future of the Boston Celtics truly hinge on the selection at 3 16 and 23 of that first round? Other teams, already saturated with young talent, are listening to offers for their picks. The Minnesota Timberwolves, sitting on last years first overall pick, is taking offers on the fifth pick of the 2016 NBA draft.

So how does this tie into the Philadelphia 76ers? Bryan Colangelo would love for nothing more than to shop the two late round picks either separately or packaged to line up some back court help for the team. But the early announcement of the availability of the picks appears to have backfired – as now many other teams are following a similar strategy.

A far more likely scenario in the way events are playing out for now is the likelihood of a true draft and stash at 24 and 26. We’d discussed the strategy of the Philadelphia 76ers of the late first round picks, and this strategy appears to give the best value. Raw talent like Zhou Qi or Thon Maker, if they fall to us there, would be ideal players to draft and then assign to a two year international contract.

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The Philadelphia 76ers will be working hard to fit pieces this season. With the team likely committing to short term high dollar contracts in free agency as bridges until the team improves enough to attract top free agents, they will also need to ensure they maintain the pipeline of raw talent to the team. This is an ideal opportunity to bank a little of the draft value for the future.