Three separate draft-pick trades have been officially completed and have been turned into a single four-team deal, according to press releases from the Nuggets, Thunder, and Lakers. The reported terms are as follows:
- Nuggets acquire the draft rights to Julian Strawther (No. 29 pick; from Pacers), the draft rights to Jalen Pickett (No. 32 pick; from Pacers), the draft rights to Hunter Tyson (No. 37 pick; from Thunder), and the least favorable of the Timberwolves’ and Hornets’ 2024 second-round picks (from Thunder).
- Thunder acquire the Nuggets’ 2029 first-round pick (protected; from Nuggets).
- Pacers acquire the least favorable of the Thunder’s, Clippers’, Rockets’ (top-four protected), and Jazz’s (top-10 protected) 2024 first-round picks (from Thunder); the draft rights to Mojave King (No. 47 pick; from Lakers); and cash (approximately $4.3MM; from Lakers).
- Lakers acquire the draft rights to Maxwell Lewis (No. 40 pick; from Nuggets).
The Nuggets and Thunder reached the first of these trade agreements two weeks ago, followed by the Nuggets and Pacers agreeing to a deal on Wednesday that included one of the picks Denver had received from Oklahoma City. Indiana subsequently flipped one of the picks it got from the Nuggets to the Lakers in a third agreement on Thursday.
Each team involved in this four-way swap is “touching” at least two other clubs in the deal, so no additional pieces needed to be added to make it legal.
Is there any advantage to making this a four-team trade?
I don’t really see it as there is no players involved. (And that won’t be the case as “it is completed”)
Less work for the league office than processing three separate trades, I suppose?
No benefit in terms of creating trade exceptions or anything like that though.
The teams also get a faster resolution to the deals, by cutting out intermediaries. For example, if these were done as separate trades, Pacers would have to wait for the Nuggets/Thunder trade to be approved, and then file their own trade since it involved the same draft pick.
I’ll be curious to see what protections are on the OKC first they got from Denver.