#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

What were the biggest headlines of the offseason?
How will these stories play out in the regular season?
How has the league landscape shifted?

Rules: 1 point if you give thoughtful answers, which I will award after the timer ends for responses. The timer ends for responses at the moment the corresponding week's Sim is run.

Note: Use approximately 5 sentences as your bare minimum for 1 point. If you write 3 long, complex sentences, you'll still get a point. If you write 5, 3 word sentences, you will not get a point. Don't @ me.

Due: Deadline for Sim 1

Mike Lowry wrote: Sun Jan 25, 2026 10:36 pm What were the biggest headlines of the offseason?

To me, the biggest headline of the offseason was the Mullin/Branch for Aguirre/Vandeweghe trade. The Spurs did a great job leveraging the Kiki Vandeweghe signing toward additional long-term excellence while the 76ers served the league notice that they are willing to make big swings.

How will these stories play out in the regular season?

The Spurs retooled their team on the fly, and the Spurs are full steam ahead into the Jordan era and aren't in as much tax danger as they looked to be last season. The 76ers are likely to make some noise and make the playoffs, but I think another move or two will be necessary to compete for the Atlantic.

How has the league landscape shifted?

This was my second-biggest story, but the Celtics bringing Ralph Sampson back was huge - seven foot four huge. With the Bullets blowing things up, the Nets sending off Darryl Dawkins, the Knicks seeing training camp erode their evero-30 squad, and the Bullets and 76ers coming off lotto appearances, the Atlantic looks ripe for the taking by the Celtics. The Bucks will dominate the Central again despite trading away Kevin McHale - the Hawks made some nice moves, but the gap between the Bucks and the rest of the division was too big. The Spurs will rule the Midwest and everyone is chasing the championship Lakers in the Pacific. So, really, I only see big changes in the Atlantic an more moderate changes in the playoff makeup (I think the Hawks and 76ers are in, and I also think with a great TC we may see the Rockets in the hunt in the West).

I do agree that the Mullin/Kiki-Aguirre trade was huge, and the Celtics ability to land Ralph is also major.
I was very surprised in different ways to see how the teams from the championship match-up moved.
In what I will forever call the Charles Barkley trade, the Bucks landed one of the real studs of the league entering their primes. I don't think it will take long at all for the Hawks to woefully regret sending him out, especially to a conference rival. Won't be surprised if the get knocked out of the playoffs by him in the coming years. I definitely love the move they made for Theus though. It's just such a reach to push chips in, and one very large mound of a chip at that.
The Lakers, fresh off their 1st championship took a big step back in my opinion. I was actually surprised when they traded Lister for Whatley, and almost immediately got hit with a pretty poor TC that makes them a completely different team.
Another team that did their Dougie was the Dallas Mavericks! Shout out to them for cleaning up in UFA. Landing Johnny Moore was big enough in itself but retaining Jay Vincent and Jawann Oldham matters, and Otis Birdsong can add some solid depth. Even though he got hit in TC.
With the tough RFA decisions made by the Jazz and Blazers, I think the West is wide open. I would say the Spurs look poised to take over, but they also helped Golden State take a step forward. I expect them to battle for the conference championship if they can stay healthy.
In the East it will be the Bucks and Celtics renewing their rivalry.

What were the biggest headlines of the offseason?
- The trade of Barkley for McHale. This trade showed that the Hawks are all in for the next few seasons, but it also keeps the Bucks as a top contender in the conference. No set back for aging stars for the Bucks with yet another retool.
- The Spurs Bulk Up. The Spurs getting players from the East and building depth while getting younger and under the tax is huge. They have a reset on the tax bill and seem like the team to beat.

How will these stories play out in the regular season?
- Ideally, the 76ers and Hawks should see a huge bump in their production this year. Gaining the win now pieces, the win total should escalate quickly and they should contend for the best record in the East.
- Both the Bucks and Spurs got good pieces that are very developed for their age, so they won't see a big drop off from previous years.

How has the league landscape shifted?
- The biggest landscape shift is the non-shift. The Bucks and Spurs got good younger pieces who are able to contribute immediately. They won't fall back and they won't have any sort of rebuild. Continued dominance for two major players going forward.

What were the biggest headlines of the offseason?
The trades - 76ers/Spurs was the blockbuster but the Bucks/Hawks was a close 2nd. We also had several sign and trades during RFA which netted both teams gains so it will be interesting to see how much this shift in talent shapes the league this season.

How will these stories play out in the regular season?
It will take a few sims to sort through all the action, but I think the quieter moves this offseason (Spurs buying Dawkins and Nuggets buying Cartwright) are the kinds of moves that will make the difference come playoff time. They were good value buy-lows which should pay off immediately. The teams that experiment with their gameplans early and often will benefit from all this movement.

How has the league landscape shifted?
The Bucks and Lakers have retooled but remain the best until proven otherwise. I think the 76ers made the biggest jump in talent but time will tell if they remain committed to the build and gameplan effectively.

Mike Lowry wrote:What were the biggest headlines of the offseason?

I think the spurs moves were the biggest headline. They retooled their team to be more balanced and also got under the cap.

Mike Lowry wrote: How will these stories play out in the regular season?

I think the spurs will be way closer to what people expected this team to become since drafting MJ this season. They are going to be a very hard team to compete against and have the depth to deal with injuries.

Mike Lowry wrote: How has the league landscape shifted

It’s not just Magic and the Lakers, or Kevin and the bucks, then everyone else now I think. The spurs and MJ are the new standard bearers I think and it is going to be that way for at least three to four seasons probably.


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What were the biggest headlines of the offseason?
The Spurs/76ers trade and the Bullets/Kings trade for the #1 pick were, in my opinion, the two biggest headlines. People already talked about the Spurs/76ers trade so I'll talk about the Bullets/Kings trade instead.

How will these stories play out in the regular season?
The Bullets and Kings were both in rebuild mode last season. The Bullets seem ok with staying patient and continue to rebuild. While the Kings clearly want to compete sooner. My only worry is if Reggie Miller is worth what the Kings gave up. He only averaged 16 points in preseason play. Maybe the Kings make some game plan changes to feature him but it's definitely getting off to a slow start. And not sure the Kings giving up those assets necessarily get them closer to competing sooner.

How has the league landscape shifted?
I think we see the Bucks and Lakers take a slight step back. The Bucks traded away McHale which as everyone knows was a lot of offensive production. It's going to be hard to replicate that. The Lakers have pretty much the same team and they all just got another year older. Maybe they can complete the back to back but they need more help in order to do that