The NBA trade deadline has, for years, happened after the NBA All-Star break. The weekend breeds trade rumors as executives have the chance to meet in person and reporters dig for details of those discussions amid the parties and festivities. Then, the week after celebrating the league’s best, players find themselves waiting to find out if they’ll be dealt — or, in the case of DeMarcus Cousins, the night of the All-Star Game.
That will all be changing next season, though. According to The Vertical’s Shams Charania, the league voted to push the trade deadline up a week, making it the week before the All-Star break, and teams were notified of the change on Wednesday.
Sources: NBA has approved change to its trade deadline for 2017-18 season to the second Thursday (Feb. 8, 2018) before All-Star weekend.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 12, 2017
Sources: Board of Governors voted at meeting Tuesday, and NBA teams were informed today. Trade deadline effectively set before All-Star. https://t.co/nVcUcYZ1uG
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 12, 2017
It’s an interesting move and one that will be made even more interesting if a star player ends up being dealt at the deadline — especially if the deal flips an All-Star player to a different conference. Teams will have to ramp up discussions earlier and won’t have the benefit of the break to discuss moves, and teams deciding whether they need to be buyers or sellers at the deadline will have to make that determination slightly earlier than before.
Otherwise, this shouldn’t have a major effect on the deadline, but it will change the NBA calendar and when fans need to be on the lookout for major deals to get done.
