The Boston Celtics, and other championship contenders, could be looking at a bit of an annoyance down the road.
The NBA is looking to expand, with Las Vegas and Seattle having moved into the lead with a chance at getting new franchise. And if that happens, an expansion draft would arrive to fill rosters of the new teams.
In expansion drafts, teams are able to protect a certain amount of players, but not their entire rosters. And that can leave intriguing players available to be selected.
Teams without a lot of good players may have less problems here. A team like the Celtics? It could be very tough. Someone is going to remain available.
The Sporting News' Stephen Noh just did a mock expansion draft this week, and in it, has the Celtics losing Jordan Walsh to the Seattle franchise.
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It wouldn't be Boston's fault, or Walsh's fault. The system simply wouldn't quite allow him to stay put.
"The Celtics should still be within their championship window," Noh writes of a potential expansion draft in a couple of years. "Walsh has been a breakout player for them this season, contributing with a high motor, offensive rebounding, defense, and shooting. He's a very solid young wing. Unfortunately, when you have a championship team like Boston, you're going to lose a good player to the expansion draft."
In a similar vein, he has the Oklahoma City Thunder losing Lu Dort to the expansion draft. At some point, the deeper rotations get hurt.
There is one plus. Expansion drafts in the past have only allowed a given franchise to lose one guy. So if Walsh got picked, the Celtics couldn't lose anyone else.
Still, they'd surely prefer to lose no good players. But if the NBA expands, that'll be hard for contenders to avoid.
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