News Expansion Draft Protection discussion - Adam Silver says NBA will make decision on expansion in 2026, cites Seattle and Las Vegas as possibilities

[024]

With 2 expansion teams, I could see the league changing the rules to protect only 6-7 players. Otherwise, the new owners would be buying into trash franchises and likely negotiate lower purchase prices.

That would cause hard choices to deep teams like the Thunder and Spurs.

What would that look like for the Spurs:

1. Wemby
2. Harper
3. Castle
4. Bryant (if not bust)

That will leave 2-3 spots for Vassell, Fox, Champaigne, Keldon, and the Spurs 2026 first round pick. Kornet I assume will be less valuable as he gets into his 30s.

5. Can easily see Champaigne over Vassell if Champaigne's next contract is reasonable.
6. Keldon would be very hard to give up if this transformation into 6MOTY is real.
7. Fox would have a huge contract but it's likely he's still playing at a high level. Would he be worth keeping over Vassell or the Spurs 2026 pick? For salary cap purposes and depending how the young players develop, Fox and Vassell could both be unprotected. If it's a 2027 draft, Kornet might even be worth retaining due to his value contract.

 

[Exstatic]

The other day there was a report that the cap for the next season will be $1M less than initially projected.
Irrelevant, but still.

One million less on cap growth on present day cap figures is literally a rounding error.

 

[The_Second_Coming_of_VY65]

Happy that the Sonics are going back to Seattle tbh. One of my favorite cities.

Pretty lukewarm on Vegas tbh. That's Laker country. I'd be surprised if the NBA team ever finds a foothold there with the locals and isn't just a revolving door of convention goers attending games.

LV makes very little sense. On top of it being LAL country, the youths don't party like they used to and Vegas isn't what it was. Would have liked to see something in CDMX or Montreal in addition to Seattle, which definitely deserves a team.

 

[scott]

If I'm the Players Association, I'm definitely opting out of the CBA after the 2028-29 season after the existing owners get a collective $15-20B paid to them. Expansion does mean that basketball related income gets shared 32 ways instead of 30 ways, but the league wouldn't do this if they didn't feel it would result in a net increase in BRI.

This works in our favor, because this will be exactly when Harper's extension is about to hit and the combination of Fox/Wemby/Castle/Harper contracts create some real discomfort.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Players Association and the Owners come together on a new CBA even a year earlier to lineup with the two new expansion teams coming in.

 

[Area 51.247]

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2036885592642814109

 

[Millennial_Messiah]

Bye Kornet. Plumlee is better too. I'd rather have Jakob Poeltl back than Kornet.

 

[TimmyBuckets]

Kornet probably the better choice not to protect. We can draft another big like that or eventually trade for one. I do love me some Kornhub though

 

[scott]

Kornet probably the better choice not to protect. We can draft another big like that or eventually trade for one. I do love me some Kornhub though

Kornet will be a club option in the summer of 2028, so it will depend on what rules the league puts in place for situations like that. If an expansion team can inherent his Option, then he becomes valuable as someone they can just draft and release with no impact to their low year 1 cap.

 

[Bones]

Yall underrate tf out of Kornet. He’s basically a more athletic Oberto, and no, it isn’t easy to find a duplicate. And he’s good for team chemistry. He would be a massive loss. It’s like yall forgot how bad we looked with Collins as backup.

Julian is easier to replace, by far.

 

[Exstatic]

Yall underrate tf out of Kornet. He’s basically a more athletic Oberto, and no, it isn’t easy to find a duplicate. And he’s good for team chemistry. He would be a massive loss. It’s like yall forgot how bad we looked with Collins as backup.

Julian is easier to replace, by far.

VERY unlikely that an expansion team would pick a 32 YO unsexy center in the expansion draft. If Julian signs a friendly deal below market, you absolutely expose Kornet in the exp draft.

 

[Bones]

VERY unlikely that an expansion team would pick a 32 YO unsexy center in the expansion draft. If Julian signs a friendly deal below market, you absolutely expose Kornet in the exp draft.

Hey I think he’s sexy, in a Bonner kind of way. Good points though, hope it works out like that

 

[spursistan]

Seems like Memphis is legitimately the least favorite city for NBA players. Both KD & Jimmy Butler vetoed a trade to the Grizz last couple of years. And now Lebron is dissing them publicly. I think the noise about the Grizzlies' relocation is only going to grow from here.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2039843074629919024

 

[Exstatic]

Honestly 2.5 years is a long time away. Keepers seem like the big 3 + rookie scale guys (unless one is a clear bust).

Vassell will be an expiring then, and we don’t know what will happen with Champ/Luke/KJ extensions. Others on the roster now are churn guys.

The one known: we all anxious about the Fox contract long term.

lol. There are better ways to offload it than giving him away for free in the expansion draft. We can probably get back at least what we gave to get him.

 

[Area 51.247]

Seems like Memphis is legitimately the least favorite city for NBA players. Both KD & Jimmy Butler vetoed a trade to the Grizz last couple of years. And now Lebron is dissing them publicly. I think the noise about the Grizzlies' relocation is only going to grow from here.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2039843074629919024

What's wrong with the Big Cypress Lodge at the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid? Used to be an NBA arena....

History of The Bass Pro Shops Pyramid | Big Cypress Lodge https://share.google/JRIOlh66H6VK85tLb

 

[CGD]

Seems like Memphis is legitimately the least favorite city for NBA players. Both KD & Jimmy Butler vetoed a trade to the Grizz last couple of years. And now Lebron is dissing them publicly. I think the noise about the Grizzlies' relocation is only going to grow from here.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2039843074629919024

Damn that’s cold. I’d feel a certain kinda way if he talked shit about SA and how the Spurs should move to Austin.