Our season can go any direction this year so I was looking at the scenario that we end up in the lottery again. In Fanspo, this is what they said:

"PHI's 1st round pick to OKC protected for selections 1-4 in 2026 and 1-4 in 2027; if PHI has not conveyed a 1st round pick to OKC by 2027, then PHI will instead convey its 2027 2nd round pick to OKC"

What exactly does this mean? Do we own 2026 AND 2027? Or if they get 2026 then we have 2027? And if they don't get 2026 or 2027 then we give em the 2nd round for 2027?

If it is indeed the case, then to me, this means that we are in the same spot as last year, either be a strong playoff team or we have completely bottom out. Being in the middle will risk losing our pick.

Damn you OKC, damn you Silver, damn you Elton Brand and of course Mr Harris himself.

8 comments

  2. Your last option. If it ends up protected for these next 2 years it’ll then turn into a 2027 2nd rd instead.

  3. Yeah if we have a top 4 pick in 2026 and 2027, then they get a 2nd round pick. But we can’t just tank because getting a top 4 pick is by no means definite with the way the lottery is.

  4. If we pick outside of 1-4 this year, OKC gets the pick. If that happens, we don’t owe them anything else. 

    If we pick 1-4 this year, we OKC our 2027 pick (unless it’s again 1-4, then they only get a 2nd rounder). 

  5. In order of high optimism to low optimism.

    1. If we make the playoffs, OKC gets our 1st rounder next summer.
    2. If we don’t make the playoffs, we’re in the lottery. If we land anywhere worse than 4th, OKC gets the pick.
    3. If we suck enough (or are lucky) and we get 1st to 4th, we keep the pick and wait until 2027.
    4. If we make the 2027 playoffs, OKC gets our 2027 1st pick
    5. If we miss the, but get picks 5 to 14, OKC gets it.
    6. If we miss the playoffs, but get lucky (1st to 4th), we keep it and OKC gets our 2nd round pick.

    One big issue since this pick hasn’t conveyed, we are not allowed to trade it, regardless of the rule preventing teams from trading their 1st rounder in successive years. Even if we somehow get someone else’s 1st rounder, we still can’t trade ours.

  8. There’s a few scenarios:

    After the draft lottery in 2026, if our pick is:

    1. 1-4 – we keep the pick

    2. 5-30 – OKC keeps the pick

    If scenario 2 happens, then we keep our 2027 pick and we owe BKN a top-8 protected pick in 2028

    If scenario 1 happens, then OKC gets our 2027 top-4 protected pick and BKN gets two second round picks in 2028

    It’s very unlikely we keep our 2026 pick, but man it would be really nice to get some lotto luck if we don’t make the playoffs because of the implications it would also have for keeping our 2028 pick.

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