Stop trading six players for one to make the salaries work
Realistically, it will never happen midseason. Conducting imbalanced trades would involve waiving a significant amount of players because of roster spot limitations.
Two players for one, three for two, etc. is kosher. Any more than that and your trade sucks.
Learn the Stepien Rule The Stepien Rule, named for former Cavs owner Ted Stepien, prevents teams from trading first-round picks in consecutive years. For example, the Lakers have already shipped out their 2022 and 2024 first-round picks. The Stepien rule means that they can’t trade their 2023 or 2025 picks either.
You can see all the future pick obligations of every team over at RealGM.
Bottom line, double-check to make sure your trade doesn’t leave any team without its first-rounders for two years in a row. If you run into that problem, try involving first-round pick swaps instead, or multiple second-round picks. Those two moves won’t violate the Stepien rule.
Three teams max Four-team trades almost never happen. There’s been one in the past 22 years, and you can probably guess who pulled it off.
Answer: Daryl Morey got Robert Covington to the Rockets in 2020 as part of a 12-player, four team swap.
Three-teamers are much more reasonable. A minor one just happened earlier in January to get Bryn Forbes to Denver. Keep your trades down to three, or else it sucks.
Don't put teams in the tax Because of outrageous spending by the Warriors, Nets and Clippers this year, the tax is a big factor in trades. Owners will get a windfall, between $10-12 million, if they keep their teams under the tax line at the end of the year.
Boston and Portland are right above the tax and are looking desperately to get under. The Nuggets, Heat, Timberwolves, Raptors and Wizards are all right below the luxury tax line and aren’t going to be adding any money
Trades involving any of those seven teams (Celtics, Blazers, Nuggets, Heat, Wolves, Raptors, Wizards) shouldn’t involve them taking on any more money, or else your trade sucks.