Beyond the debate over tanking, several NBA front office members are warning that the league's proposed 3-2-1 lottery system could produce unintended consequences that reshape how franchises build rosters. The concern centers on first-round pick values and an already difficult trade market.

Under the new format, flatter lottery odds would give virtually every first-round pick a meaningful chance at a high selection. A team picking 16th, which currently has no path to a top-three pick, would hold 2.7 percent odds at the No. 1 selection. That figure exceeds the 1.8 percent odds the Dallas Mavericks held last year when they won the right to select Cooper Flagg.

Executives predict that dynamic would make most first-round picks more valuable league-wide, creating friction in a transaction market already strained by first and second apron restrictions and a free agency landscape that has grown increasingly limited in recent years.

Teams may become reluctant to trade future first-round picks even when projecting strong records, knowing any pick carries legitimate lottery upside. That hesitancy could slow deal-making across the league.

"This system would take even more control out of a team's hands in how to rebuild," one assistant general manager told The Athletic.

A separate frustration stems from timing. Several executives expressed irritation that the proposed changes arrived without warning after their organizations traded away future first-round picks under the existing value system. Those picks were moved without any knowledge that the underlying lottery structure was about to shift fundamentally.

The NBA has framed the 3-2-1 proposal as a collaborative process, holding multiple meetings with general managers ahead of the May 28 Board of Governors vote. But for executives who built long-term plans around the current format, the abruptness of the potential shift carries real consequences.