In the NBA, a pick swap is a type of trade involving future draft picks. It provides teams with a loophole around the Stepien rule, which states that teams are not allowed to trade their first-round pick in back-to-back seasons. When two teams agree to a pick swap, the receiving club gets to choose between the two teams best picks for that year. In order to get around the Stepien rule, NBA teams will also trade options to swap picks. When a team agrees to a pick swap option for a given year, they are agreeing to swap picks with the team that they are sending the option to. For example, if Team A sends a pick swap to Team B in 2023, and Team A doesn’t make the playoffs and gets the No. 6 overall pick, while Team B also didn’t make the playoffs but got the No. 14 overall pick in the lottery, Team B can use the option to swap picks and take Team As pick. The swap option only means anything if the receiving team is better than the partner. Historically, a first-round pick swap has been only about as valuable as the no. 36 overall pick. There have only been 12 pick swaps exercised in NBA history.