I was just scrolling through a list of future draft assets that have been traded, and I noticed that there are almost no unprotected/lightly protected 2017 1st round picks that have been traded to date. By my count, the only ones out there are:
- BOS/NJ and PHI/SAC unprotected pick swaps
- DEN potentially owns MEM 1st (1 - 5 protected) if 2016 MEM pick doesn't convey (1 - 5; 15 - 30 protected)
- Utah owns GSW unprotected 2017 first rounder (not a great asset given GSW's trajectory)
And that's it.
It will be interesting to see if this is actually a trend, and the likes of Harry Giles, Josh Jackson, Jayson Tatum and Thon Maker are too tantalizing of a group of future NBAers for GMs to pass up a shot at, or if it is more of a coincidental observation based on the timing of things such as when big trades are executed (like the C's and Nets deal where it was most practical to give '14, '16, '18 picks), and 2017 being more than one draft away, so the picks are less likely to be sent out.