The NBA is a copycat league, and never has that been more evident than in teams trying to outdo each other in accumulating massive hauls of future draft picks.
Fringe playoff contenders who were stuck in neutral shifted in recent years toward trading star players for packages that included not only young prospects but multiple future picks — in some cases taking over an entire team's draft future.
While the infamous Process of the Philadelphia 76ers began in 2013, the leaguewide trend didn't truly begin in earnest until 2019, when the New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder both pulled off franchise-altering moves. New Orleans traded Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, getting back two unprotected first-round picks and one pick swap (plus a cache of players including the No. 4 overall pick in the 2019 draft). The Thunder sent Paul George to the LA Clippers for five first-round picks (three from LA, two from the Miami Heat) and two picks swaps.
Since then, the race by the league's worst teams to accumulate first-round picks has accelerated, as the Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz joined in.
In the past three years, these players have all been traded: Davis, George, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Jrue Holiday, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, Malcolm Brogdon, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
As a result, eight teams control 85 picks over the next seven years. But those extra future picks aren't created equal. To gain a better understanding of which teams are set to dominate the draft for the rest of this decade, here's my ranking of the caches of draft picks for the eight teams in the NBA with the most additional picks.
1. Utah Jazz
Key players traded: Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Royce O'Neale
Players on roster from previously acquired picks: None
Incoming first-round picks (14):
Six of their next seven own
Three unprotected from Minnesota (2023, 2025, 2027)
Three unprotected from Cleveland (2025, 2027, 2029)
Top-5 protected from Minnesota (2029)
Less favorable of Brooklyn, Houston or Philadelphia in 2023
Swap rights: Minnesota or Cleveland (2026) and Cleveland (2028)
Outgoing first-round picks (1):
Top-10 protected to Oklahoma City in 2024 (top-10 protected in 2025, top-8 in 2026, else 2028 second-round pick).
The Jazz are an example of how quick things can change in the NBA.
Two seasons ago, they had the league's best record and both Mitchell and Gobert were about to enter the first year of a five-year max extension. But after disappointing playoff losses to the Leonard-less Clippers in 2021 and the Mavericks (who were without Luka Doncic for multiple games) in 2022, the Jazz went into full teardown mode.
Because they just started acquiring picks this summer, they have no one on the roster they've drafted using a traded pick, though they did also add 2022 first-round picks Walker Kessler and Ochai Agbaji in the deals that sent away Gobert and Mitchell, respectively.
In addition to those two rookies, the Jazz have a league-high six unprotected first-round picks coming in. They went from 25th in the draft category in the most recent edition of our Future Power Rankings to the top of this list. The picks from Cleveland don't start coming until 2025, the same summer when Mitchell could become a free agent and potentially leave the Cavaliers.
The one pick of their own that they owe (coincidentally, to the No. 2 team in this ranking) might not convey for a while depending on how long Utah's rebuild takes.
2. Oklahoma City Thunder
Key players traded: Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Al Horford and Chris Paul
Players on roster from previously acquired picks: Ousmane Dieng, Jalen Williams, Tre Mann, Aleksej Pokusevski, Theo Maledon, Aaron Wiggins, Vasilije Micic, Darius Bazley and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl