#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Why is this deadline so dead?
Who do you think could stand to make a move?
Who are the pieces around the league that would make sense to see moved?

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 8

Mike Lowry wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2026 9:07 am Why is this deadline so dead?
Who do you think could stand to make a move?
Who are the pieces around the league that would make sense to see moved?

I think the deadline is so dead because most teams decided pretty early on this season whether they were tanking or not, so most moves teams wanted to make happened on 12/15. There aren't any teams that thought they were competing on 12/15 that have now changed their mind and are trying to sell off their acquisitions after 60 days, so there are really only pieces around the margins available.

And in my experience, most owners focus way more on "star acquisition" than on "improvement around the margins" (it's also harder to make moves with so many teams up against the cap and salary matching rules coming into play) - it's harder for most to get excited and focus on a trade for the 11th man on your bench than it is about acquiring an all-star. That means the pieces around the margins aren't exciting a lot of people and not leading to a lot of trades.

The other thing I think is holding things up is picks - or perhaps the lack of them. The Pick Tracker lists 15 first-round picks as Stepien-Restricted, that's as high as I can remember and it's over 20% of all available picks! People aren't currently "liquid" with their most sought-after assets.

Who should make a move? Probably the Knicks. They have been injury-riddled all season and they don't own their own first (it now sits with the Hawks). They have two really good bigs (Cartwright and Gminski) and should trade one or both of them for younger pieces for a rebuild if possible. The huge contracts those centers have mean they'll probably have to sell them at a "loss" talent-wise, but it's clear the team as presently constituted isn't working and those guys are not going to improve, so may as well try to dump their salaries.

Other pieces that should probably be moved (or at least shopped): Generally guys making big money on a bad team still capable of being productive for a couple of seasons, think Mark Aguirre of the 76ers, Reggie Theus of the Hawks, Rick Mahorn of the Cavaliers, Purvis Short of the Clippers, Darrell Griffith of the Nuggets, and Bernard King of the Mavericks.

Why is this deadline so dead?
Who do you think could stand to make a move?
Who are the pieces around the league that would make sense to see moved?

Like Wig said, everyone decided early what they wanted to do this season. So a lot of big trades happened as soon as offseason acquisitions were eligible to be traded. The biggest teams that need to make a move are in two categories: teams on the bubble of the playoffs or teams that don't have their pick. The Knicks and 76ers should look to get better this year. Teams like the Hornets and the Bulls that are trying to figure out their team should make a push.

I don't see anymore blockbuster trades happening. I could see some depth pieces being moved. Especially by those in the tax to get some relief.

Why is this deadline so dead?
Like the others mentioned, there just is not enough on the block to entice someone to take a big swing. The contending teams made their moves earlier and the tanking teams have no interest to improve any further so everyone is just coasting now.

Who do you think could stand to make a move?
The Phoenix Suns have cap space to add talent for cheap to solidify their playoff push. This is a free year for them before the Malone supermax hits so might as well give it a shot.

Who are the pieces around the league that would make sense to see moved?
Mark Aguirre on the 76ers is my player to watch. The contract is good value for a contending team and I dont think it would cost too much to buyout.

Why is this deadline so dead?
I think this deadline is mainly dead because everybody in tank mode has already sold off the pieces they can/wanted to in order to tank more. And the competitive teams now have less space to make significant trades happen.

Who do you think could stand to make a move?
If the money works, the suns could make a move (which they are currently trying to do). They have the most space available of the playoff contending teams and have assets to get rid of.

Who are the pieces around the league that would make sense to see moved?
I personally think the Nets should have looked at getting rid of ellis or lever. I know they are only 28 but sitting under .500 with those two just shouldn't happen. They could easily have gotten rid of them for picks/points and really stocked up on young players and be ready to compete for multiple seasons once the young guys mature. But they might be looking at those two players on the decline by the time their young guys are ready to takeover

I think the rich got richer and it really destroyed the middle class.
Namely the fact that the Bucks traded for Wilkins, the Blazers traded for McHale, and the Spurs traded for Chambers seems to have been enough to intimidate the rest of the league into inaction, with the great exception of Nick Malone!
It seems like everybody else in range of contention kind of got stuck in some headlights.
I like the move by Kavarga as well, but I don't know that he can get out of that row of killers he finds himself in every season.
I imagine there was a deal for Moe Cheeks out there that could have pushed the Celtics a little bit higher.
I don't know if that was Jay Vincent, or Cliff Robinson, but I think they would have benefitted from a move like that more than the teams who made them.
Johnny Moore made sense, Cliff was very reasonable.

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+1 point