With the February 10 trade deadline fast approaching, NBA fans around the world are spending countless hours pretending to work during the day while crafting the perfect fake deal that will get them instantly… Their favorite team hires.
Most of these fake deals are bad, but they can be made a lot better with a few tweaks.
THAN: NBA Trade Rumors: Latest Updates, Possible Deals
With that in mind, here are some tips to make your fake deals less bad.
Using Fanpo’s commercial machine
ESPN’s Trading Machine was revolutionary when the current Timberwolves General Manager, Sachin Gupta, created it as an ESPN employee in 2006. Today, there are newer and better options.
Fanspo’s commercial machine (formerly known as TradeNBA) allows you to trade draft options and even offers protection on those options. It also uses BBBall Index’s LEBRON rating system to give a ball on each side’s value.
Stop trading six players for one to make the paycheck work
Technically, this trade works.
In fact, it will never happen mid-season. Making unbalanced trades will involve giving up a large number of players because of roster placement limitations.
Two players for one, three players for two, etc. are kosher. Much more than that and your deal sucks.
THAN: What Daryl Morey’s Five Percent Rule Tells Us About Ben Simmons’ Trading
Learn Stepien’s Rule
The Stepien Rule, named after former Cavs owner Ted Stepien, prevents teams from trading first pick for consecutive years. For example, the Lakers shipped the first options in 2022 and 2024. Stepien rules mean they can’t trade 2023 or 2025 options either.
You can see all future pick obligations of every team via RealGM.
Bottom line, double check to make sure your trade doesn’t leave any team without the first team for two years in a row. If you have that problem, try using swap picks on the first round or multiple picks on the second round. Those two moves won’t violate Stepien’s rule.
Up to three teams
Four-team trades almost never happen. There has been an explosion in the last 22 years, and you can guess who did it.
A: Daryl Morey brings Robert Covington to the Rockets in 2020 as part of a 12-player, four-team exchange.
The trio is much more logical. A small incident happened in early January to bring Bryn Forbes to Denver. Keep your trade down to three, or it’ll suck.
Don’t put teams in taxes
Due to excessive spending by the Warriors, Nets, and Clippers this year, taxes are a major factor in transactions. The owners will receive a payout of $10-12 million, if they keep their team under tax at the end of the year.
Boston and Portland are just above the tax rate and are desperately looking to be below. Nuggets, Heat, Timberwolves, Raptors and Wizards are all just below the luxury tax and won’t add any money
Trades involving any of those seven teams (Celtics, Blazers, Nuggets, Heat, Wolves, Raptors, Wizards) will not cause them to receive any additional funds, otherwise your trades will very bad.
THAN: Celtics are emerging for playoffs
Include realistic goals
You already know big names like Ben Simmons, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner have been rumored in the trade talks. But what about the players who can fill the big holes in the lineup?
Here is a non-exhaustive list of good rotation players who also make sense to move on to the deadline:
- Guards: Dennis Schroeder, Marcus Smart, Collin Sexton, Corey Joseph, Donte DiVicenzo, Spencer Dinwiddie, Kemba Walker, Buddy Hield, Eric Gordon, DJ Augustin, Eric Bledsoe, Tyus Jones, De’Anthony Melton, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson
- Wing: TJ Warren, Caris LeVert, Justin Holiday, Torrey Craig, Josh Richardson, Terrence Ross, Danny Green, Tobias Harris, PJ Washington, Gary Harris, Evan Fournier, Kenrich Williams, Harrison Barnes, Nic Batum, Robert Covington, Marcus Morris, David Nwaba, Kyle Anderson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Talen Horton-Tucker, Josh Green
- Big: Robin Lopez, John Collins, Jerami Grant, Kelly Olynyk, Davis Bertans, Thomas Bryant, Montrezl Harrell, Paul Millsap, Nic Claxton, Mike Muscala, Derrick Favors, Richaun Holmes, Marvin Bagley, Isaiah Hartenstein, Daniel Theis, Serge Ibaka, Jusuf Nurkic , Larry Nance Jr., Brandon Clarke, Thad Young, Chris Boucher, Mo Bamba, Nerlens Noel
Final Test: Check Twitter Feedback
Not a lot of fleas going on these days. The value has to be pretty close for the transactions to actually go through.
A good way to check if your fake trade is balanced is to post it on Twitter and see the response. If both fan bases are equally hated, then congratulations! Your fake trade is not attractive.
