Why does the NBA still force traded NBA Draft players to wear original hats?
It happens every year. Often several times. When a pick at the NBA Draft is traded from one team to another, but the player selected with the pick has to wear the hat of the original team they were just traded from.
For example: Cason Wallace, who just won a championship with the only team he's ever played for -- the Oklahoma City Thunder -- is sporting a Dallas Mavericks hat in his draft day photo. Wallace was taken with the pick that was traded to OKC for Dereck Lively II, who had to wear a Thunder cap in his photo.
Why does this happen? There's actually a pretty simple explanation. After 2 p.m. on draft day, draft picks technically can't be traded, according to SI, only the rights to whoever is taken with each pick. So, what happens is teams that agree to swap picks after that time will let the team who owns the pick they want know which player to take, and that team is essentially drafting a player on behalf of the team they'll be routed to.
And that's why players have to suffer through those awkward moments of wearing the hat of a team they'll never play for.
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