In the context of professional basketball, draft selections can be conveyed between teams as part of trades. These conveyed selections are sometimes subject to conditions that dictate whether the selection actually transfers. These conditions, known as protections, stipulate that if a team’s draft pick falls within a specified range, the pick is not conveyed; instead, the team retains it, and a different asset, often a future selection, is conveyed instead. For example, a pick might be protected “top-three,” meaning that if the selection falls within the first three picks of the draft, the original team keeps the pick.
Protections serve as a safeguard for teams trading away future draft assets. They mitigate the risk of conveying a valuable, high-ranking selection to another team if the conveying team performs poorly. Protections allow teams to engage in trades with a degree of security, fostering more active player movement and team restructuring. The historical prevalence and complexity of these conditions reflect the strategic importance of draft selections in team building and competitive balance.