Fun thought exercise!
Depending on when it happened, you're right... Fox might be exactly who you leave unprotected... though that's the kind of situation where if you leave him unprotected you damn well better hope he gets picked, otherwise it's gonna be a awkward!
With all the bad contracts out there, an expansion team could probably put together a pretty decent veteran team, but one that would instantly put you in the 2nd apron
Maybe the league could do a deal where the expansion teams were not subject to the apron and the league subsidized their payrolls for the first couple of years... the other teams would probably be all for it just to view the expansion teams just starting out as dumping grounds.
Your 2027 Seattle Supersonics!
De'Aaron Fox
Jamal Murray
Jaylen Brown
Lauri Markkanen
Joel Embiid
There's about $270MM in payroll right there
