With trade talk buzzing, no Nets' asset gets mentioned as much as the Clippers' first round pick. With the Clippers a perennial lottery entry, it has had great value...although if the Clippers keep playing the way they have, that value is going to decline throughout the year. In fact, Dave D'Alessandro has reported that the Nets were willing to trade the pick back to the Clippers as part of a deal for Chris Wilcox but that the Clippers turned them down.
Nevertheless, that pick is one that has been shuttling around the NBA for more than five years since it was first traded on draft night 2000, having never been exercised during that time because of the extensive protections that it has carried. In fact, it is the pick with the longest shelf-life in the NBA. No pick traded before it remains unexercised.
Its history is one of being included in trades that have been one-sided, having been the biggest asset in trades that have netted teams Corey Maggette, Keyon Dooling and Kenyon Martin.
Here's its history:
The Clippers traded the pick with protections (top 21 protected in 2003, top 15 protected in 2004, top 14 protected in 2005) to the Magic for Derek Strong, Corey Maggette and the draft rights to Keyon Dooling. on August 1, 2002, the Magic traded the pick and Don Reid to the Nuggets for a second round pick in 2004. That pick became Sergei Lishouk, a Ukrainian player who remains in Europe. Then on July 15, 2004, the Clippers pick was traded again as part of the Kenyon Martin trade. The Nets sent Martin to the Nuggets for three first round picks, the Clippers pick along with the Nuggets' protected first round pick and a protected pick the Nuggets had acquired from the Sixers. The Nets of course sent two of those three picks to the Raptors in the Vince Carter trade, retaining the Clippers' pick.