The American professional basketball league NBA has gone through fundamental changes in the 21st century that have de facto redefined the sport. The changes had more than just a strictly sporting dimension. Much has also happened in the business sphere: One of the most significant phenomena we can observe in recent years is the growing importance of draftee selections as a component of player exchanges between league teams.

What are draftee selections? In a nutshell, this is the capital available to each league team, allowing it to select, in a predetermined order, the best talent from amateur (primarily university) and professional leagues from around the world. Draftee selection rights can be sold and given away in exchanges, for example, for players and/or other selections.

Until the 2000s, they were only an adjunct to player replacements. They now play an increasingly important role, often being the axis of exchange. This shift toward prioritizing draftee picks and future assets over established players in NBA deals can be likened to an increasingly clear trend in the construction labor market. Just turn the clubs into companies and the players into engineers.

Like NBA teams, companies in the construction sector have historically focused their attention primarily on expanding value by attracting employees with several years of experience, assuming they bring stability, knowledge and a proven track record. So the priorities and hierarchy within the teams were clear, and the pay scale followed them consistently. However, as business evolves and technology advances rapidly, there is a growing realization that an organization’s future success may depend more on investing in capability and innovation than relying solely on past performance. This consequently leads to the subversion of previously prevailing rules.

In both scenarios, there is a fundamental change in the perception of value. NBA teams and construction companies alike are beginning to recognize its potential long-term benefits: If properly identified and nurtured, a young professional basketball/engineering candidate will likely repay with the ability to adapt instantly to a rapidly changing work environment and unparalleled skills. He may also consequently become a key link in the team, a gamechanger capable of taking his employer to a whole new level. A level that employees with experience but limited potential are not able to give the organization. Organizations like and strive for spectacular success. Thus, in pursuit of them, they become, as it were, players in the labor market, accepting, in the name of potential success, the undoubtedly high risks resulting from such an attitude. But about that in the next episode….