Well if we miss the playoffs.. Which is still doubtful. Hope the lottery balls are cooked
Lakers don't have any first round picks correct? Traded for Sessions last season?
Correct me if I'm mistaken.
Top- 14 protected
So missing playoffs = having a lottery pick
It goes to the Suns if the Lakers miss the playoffs. It goes to the Cavs if the Lakers do make the playoffs.
This was written on NBA.com on New Year's Eve
According to the terms of the very tangled sign-and-trade that was strictly Phoenix-Los Angeles but involves moving parts from four other teams, the Heat would have to miss the playoffs for the Lakers to lose their 2013 first-rounder. And even that may not do it.
The Suns, on a very secure course to have a lottery choice of their own, will get another first-rounder from the Kings, Cavaliers, Lakers or Heat, through deals those teams made through the years. That it will be the worst of the selections means the Miami pick, originally sent to Cleveland in the 2010 LeBron James sign-and-trade, is the obvious favorite to land in Phoenix. (Sacramento, with its No. 1 top-13 protected, almost certainly keeps the chip anyway.)
So all indications are that 2015 is the soonest the Suns can get anything directly from the Lakers in the Nash deal. That first-rounder will definitely belong to L.A., but with protection that could delay delivery until 2016 or even 2017. It may not be paid out until 2018, when protections finally expire.
Of the two second-rounders sent to Phoenix, the 2013 choice started in Denver and includes protection that could push it back to '14, and the definite 2014 selection was Lakers' property all along. So, Nash may end up costing Los Angeles the grand total of one No. 1, one No. 2 and $3 million from its own vault. Other teams -- from among the Heat, Cavaliers, Kings and Nuggets -- will likely pick up the rest of the tab.
Suns officials won't talk about the Draft implications of the Nash deal, maybe because they don't want to appear to gloat over Lakers' woes. But this always has been a difficult relationship. The Suns and Lakers are not merely rivals in alignment (fellow members of the Pacific Division) or geographically (with just 375 miles of desert separation, a six-hour straight shot on Interstate 10). It's not about location or going against logic by making a swap that would be a clear victory for a division opponent.
This has long been personal, a Lakers-Suns thing for years. The two teams met in the playoffs three times in five years (Phoenix won in 2006 and '07, L.A. in 2010), and Kobe Bryant still holds a special distaste for Planet Orange. Nash himself originally said he could not imagine defecting like this, but changed his mind to be close to his kids in Arizona.
Now, here they all are, the Lakers trying to find dependability, the Suns with their own troubles but hoping to build for the future, and a 2013 first-round pick floating around, somewhere, out there.
http://www.nba.com/2012/news/features/scott_howard_cooper/12/31/lakers-suns-draft-2013/index.html
Also from Real GM draft credits
2013 first round draft pick to Phoenix
The L.A. Lakers will send the least favorable of their own 1st round pick (top-14 protected), Cleveland's own 2013 1st round pick, Sacramento's own 1st round pick (top-13 protected) and Miami's 2013 1st round pick to Phoenix. If the L.A. Lakers' 1st round pick is within the top-14 selections, Phoenix will automatically receive the L.A. Lakers' 1st round pick. [L.A. Lakers-Phoenix, 7/11/2012]
2013 first round draft pick to Cleveland
Cleveland has the right to swap the least favorable of their own 2013 1st round pick, Miami's own 2013 1st round pick (top-10 protected) and Sacramento's own 2013 1st round pick (top-13 protected) with the L.
A. Lakers own 2013 first round pick (top-14 protected). If the L.A. Lakers own 2013 first round pick is #1-#14, then the L.A. Lakers' obligation to Cleveland shall be extinguished. [Cleveland-L.A. Lakers, 3/15/2012]
what if..
