NBA Draft: 5 predictions for a potentially crazy night

More than 15 trades will take place on draft night

There were 14 trades completed on draft night a year ago, and you’d have to go back to 2013 to find the last time that there were 15 trades.

This year, however, it seems as though there are plenty of teams attempting to do some cap gymnastics ahead of free agency and the summer trading season. Plus, while the draft seems to be short on generational, high-ceiling talent compared to recent years, it also appears to be an extremely deep draft. Potential starters should be drafted into the 20s, and that means that those picks could be hot commodities, both among teams trying to move up into the first round and those that may be willing to move back and pick up assets along the way.

The one thing that could suppress the number of trades is that the smart teams — the Houstons, Golden States, and San Antonios — will swap cash for a pick/player that they desperately want, and you can bet that teams weren’t thrilled to see the Warriors pick up Jordan Bell for cash last year and then have Bell play a key role in the Warriors’ championship run. Competitiveness will take over, and teams may not simply take a couple million in exchange for a pick from a playoff team.

All that said, it seems unlikely that very many of these trades will be major. But that doesn’t matter, a trade is a trade, and it always adds excitement to the night.