NBA to Move up Trade Deadline

Sadly for most basketball fans, the 2017-18 NBA season is still a long ways away.

At least there's Summer League to keep die hard fans occupied.

But there still aren’t any games that count until Tue 25 Oct.

That doesn’t mean that any season altering-news isn’t breaking.

Specifically, changes have now been made involving the annual trade deadline.

Other than playoffs and possibly draft night, there are few events that captivate NBA fans more than the trade deadline. GM’s from around the league fight against the clock to acquire the pieces they think make their team a contender.

Or at least in recent years, to be a contender for losing to either the Warriors or the Cavs in the conference finals.

Last season’s deadline saw the Kings trade center DeMarcus Cousins to join fellow former Kentucky big man Anthony Davis on the New Orleans Pelicans.

All well and good, except the deal didn’t go down on deadline day. As many NBA fans remember, Cousins was traded the night of the All-Star Game, which was coincidentally also in New Orleans. In fact the league had both East and West jerseys made for him, to cover any eventuality.

While many basketball fans heard of the trade during the game, Cousins didn’t know he was being traded until the post-game interviews.

From now on, a situation such as Cousins' will not be happening.

Moving the deadline up a full 10 days before the All-Star break ensures two PR spotlights and, allegedly, zero awkward moments.

There are likely two motivating factors at work. The more wholesome reason is that it gives players more time to adjust to moving to a new city, possibly to a city on the other side of the country.

However, there's also a cold hearted business reason. While trade rumors are usually good for the publicity, the reverberations aren't always positive. Case in point: when trade rumors supersede the news surrounding the NBA’s biggest regular season event.

Besides the example with Cousins this year, back in 2011, it was the Melodrama stealing headlines from the All-Star Game.

The league isn't too keen on fans turning their attention away from the game and toward their phones, waiting for the next Woj Bomb or ShamWow tweet.

Now, no longer will fans have to wait until to the end of February to see if any big names get moved for the stretch run.

And since the whole of Las Vegas seems to think a Warriors repeat is sure bet, the NBA's gonna need another big news anchor point to keep the upcoming season interesting.