(NEXSTAR) — It’s a unique situation that happens year after year at the annual NBA Draft: Draft picks have to walk up on stage after they hear their name called and are forced to wear a team’s hat, knowing they’ll never actually play for that team.
In most sports—like in the NFL—when a player is selected on draft night, they receive a hat from the team that picked them. They put it on, walk up on a stage, shake the commissioner’s hand, and begin their career as a member of that team.
This is usually the case for most NBA draft picks as well, but due to the league’s strange rules and timing involving draft day trades, not every player has the typical draft day experience.
This is due to the fact that NBA teams are allowed to trade a player they just drafted before that player signs a contract—unlike in the NFL draft, where a player cannot be traded until they are under contract.
So what often happens is a player will be drafted, will walk up on stage with the hat of the team that selected them, and then come to find out soon after that they’ve been traded to another team.
Other times, however, teams will agree to a trade ahead of their pick and will draft a player for the team they are trading with. And even though the team that selects said player knows full well the player will never play for their team, the player is forced to put on the wrong hat and take the stage.
This is because even though the trade is announced by NBA reporters, it is not official until after it has been cleared by the league office, according to Sports Illustrated. This means that the player is technically a member of the team that drafted them for the time being.
A recent example of this was in the 2018 NBA Draft when the Atlanta Hawks drafted Luka Doncic with the third overall pick and immediately traded him to the Dallas Mavericks for the fifth pick in the draft and a future first. But because the trade was not officially completed by the NBA league office yet, the Hawks had to tell the Mavericks who to select for them with that fifth pick (Trae Young).
This forced Young to have to take the stage in a Mavericks hat, knowing that he was actually headed to the Hawks instead.
East Rutherford, NJ 6/26/1996
CREDIT: Manny Millan (Photo by Manny Millan /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
(Set Number: X51025 TK1 R19 F14 )
Arguably, the most famous draft day trade was in 1998 when the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets came to an agreement for the Hornets’ 13th overall pick in the draft for the Lakers’ starting center, Vlad Divac. Although the trade wasn’t official yet, the Lakers were able to tell the Hornets exactly who to draft with the pick, asking them to select Kobe Bryant.
The Hall of Famer and Lakers legend took the stage wearing a Charlotte Hornets hat that night, which ended up haunting the Hornets’ fanbase forever.
There are dozens and dozens of other examples to go back and look at, like Kawhi Leonard in 2011 being taken by the Pacers before he was traded to the Spurs soon after. Or in 1998, when Dirk Nowitzki was selected by the Bucks and sent off to Dallas right after.
These types of trades happen every year during the NBA Draft, making for incredible memes and funny moments to look back at what could have been.
The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft is set to begin on Wednesday, June 25, at 8 p.m. ET, with the second round airing the following day, Thursday, June 26, at 8 p.m. ET as well.