Protect This House

The NBA seems destined to add two more teams. Who would the Knicks protect in an expansion draft? And who would be the best NBA player to be made available?

Good morning! And congrats to Kevin McCullar Jr, who inked his two-way contract with the Knicks yesterday. Hopefully he’s healthy enough to be on the court for training camp.

As for today’s column, we take a look at the NBA expansion draft. It isn’t likely to take place for a few years, but it’s August and nothing is going on, so let’s have some fun.

Expansion Awaits

Today’s reader question comes to us from Jewanon, who asks about a topic that has been gaining in relevance - and that was before some notable Adam Silver comments over the last few months:

If the expansion draft happened today with two new teams coming in, who do you think the best unprotected player available would be, both from the Knicks and in the league at large?

Before I answer Jewanon’s question, a quick refresher on where things stand with expansion…

On June 6, Adam Silver held his annual pre-Finals presser and said that while it isn’t “preordained that we will expand this time,” he acknowledged the immense interest from “wealthy individuals” who might want to buy a team. A few days later, he told the hosts of Boston’s pregame “we'll be in a position to look at expansion” once the new media rights deal got squared away.

Fast forward to now, and the rights deal is done, give or take a lawsuit or two.

That doesn’t mean the league is going to add two more teams next summer or even the year after that, but it’s coming soon. So what better time to have a little fun?

If the rules for expansion remain the same as when Charlotte re-entered the league 20 years ago, that means each of the new teams will pick at least 14 players from around the league, and the 30 teams will be able to protect up to eight players from their roster. In 2004, the Bobcats weren’t allowed to select more than one player from any other team. If that rule remains the same, at least 28 of the 30 teams will lose someone.

In other words, if the league expands by two teams as planned, almost every team is going to be impacted.

New York’s Protected Players

Let’s start with the Knicks.