Rule Change – Maximum Players In A Trade

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY

After much internal discussion and discussion with GM’s across the league, the League Office is taking executive action and decreasing the limit of players a single team can give up in a trade from ten players to five players. This is effective immediately.

Additionally, instead of creating multiple complex and detailed rules, let it be known that we are aware of any loopholes and hope everyone actively understands not to attempt to work in the gray area of this one. We expect everyone to be able to manage this or swift action will take place. If there are questions about this matter moving forward, please direct them via PM. And to very clear on this aspect of things, action that would be taken by the league office would likely come with more than just a rule change.

Why the change and why now?

It really came down to a few things.

  1. The biggest was realism. Trades of seven, eight, nine, ten, and ten plus players just do not happen in real-life. While we understand the argument some made that trying to be 100% realistic can lead to unintended consequences or create some room for argument that even more is needed, we believe this is a step in the right direction.
  2. Trade balance: We believe this will put an added emphasis on quality over quantity. Something that we feel will be an added benefit to those looking to trade pieces that warrant multiple high-end prospects, rather than 10 average to above-average pieces.
  3. The why now largely comes as a result of the request from the offseason not making it past the opening month of the season. The Atlanta/New York trade was well within the rules, in fact, I applaud them for making it work financially as it was not easy. That said, going back to point #1, if not now, another one could pop-up in a week, a month, or whenever, it would be another trade in the wrong direction – regardless of how fair the trade might be.

Thank you to everyone who helped with discussions on this one. Getting assistance and gauging the viewpoints was extremely helpful, especially the discussion with those that showed resistance and with thorough thought throughout the discussion.

Decisions like these that require action without a league-wide vote come at the sole purpose of the league office thinking they are best for the league. That is our one and only end goal with these. We will continue to take surveys of requests/ideas moving forward, as well as the bi-annual/annual league votes on any other changes that are deemed not quite necessary enough for automatic action.

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