What is it that makes the NLL so enjoyable ? Sure there are games to sim and win, but we have no direct impact on the outcome. Sure there all kinds of stats and news to look at, but that is a passive as well.

The three things how we can make a mark on our teams are drafting, free-agents and trading. Drafting is a once a year lottery-like event. Bidding on free-agents is exciting, but eventually random as well. You put in your bid and pray for the best.

And then there is trading. 

In this article I’m looking at the long trading history of the NLL. After all it has been almost fifteen years for some of us.

Up until today, there have been 2078 trades completed over the years. (There is one pending is I type this.) Take away a few where trades were split into multiple transactions. How many more did not amount to anything? Imagine the long hours of negotiations spent on over 2000 trades!

With (now) 30 teams in the league (the NLL actually started out before the Bobcats expansion) that is roughly 70 total trades per team, or five per team and season.

Most active traders

1. Washington / Darko / 116 trades

darko has a reputation of being a trigger-happy guy, who changes directions midseason multiple times, with varying degrees of success. Since he has been around forever, those league-leading 116 trades can mostly be attributed to him.

2.  Utah / merencio (proid) / 108 trades

Utah coming in second is a surprise. Sure, when craig was at the helm he did like to trade, but this rise to the very top seems to be a recent development under merencio. 21 trades last season and quite on pace with 12 so far this season.

3.  Philly / vt / 105 trades

Rounding out the top three is, no surprise, Philly. Although vt is a tough nut to crack and always asks for that little bit extra, he is getting trades done at an astonishing rate.

What? Where’s javi?

At this point, everyone must be thinking? What? Where's javi at? Contrary to perception javi's Timberwolves rank towards the middle of the pack with only 75 trades. Maybe perception is skewed, because if javi trades, he trades big.

Catching up

Orlando made a mind-boggling 32 trades last year and 18 so far this season. Sitting at 94 total it will take laddas another two or three seasons to get to the top at this rate.

Least active

28. Houston / 43 trades

Houston has not had a steady hand at the helm for extended periods since greenmig left. Most GMs didn’t make it out of probation, so it is small wonder they were barely active on the trading front.

29. Memphis / 42 trades

The Grizzlies are a similar case. After Deckard left, rasho was around for a long time, but simply wasn’t very active.

30. Cleveland / alejandro / 22 trades

22 is the big number here. The Cavs have made the fewest trades in the league. But without question they made the biggest one when they acquired Lebron five years ago. Parker, Drummond and Ibaka also arrived via trade. So even for this consistent team success only came in the form of trades. Alejandro just figured out when to do it.

Who with whom?

SA-Dal - 14 times: Small wonder. These guys are brothers.

Phi-Utah - 11 times: I believe this is a relic of the olden days when proid was leading the Jazz.

Phi-Orl - 10 times: This is inflated, because laddas and vt conducted several trades split into two using exceptions last season.

Others: Phi-Por 10 times, Mia-Chi 10 times, Was-Bos 9 times

Unchartered Territory

Trade-leader Washington is spreading the love. The only teams the Wizards never traded with are Charlotte and New York.

Philly never traded with Cleveland. That’s it.

Utah never traded with New Orleans.

Let’s finish up these lists, guys.


Edit: GM Points Costs

With the upgraded re-trading costs, there have been 251 points spent on re-trading so for this season. To put it into perspective: 934 were spent on bids this season. 

Interested in your own team? Check out these trading charts and comment below:

Edit 2: Traded Players

The number of traded players delivers an identical top 3 list (Was 165, Utah 152, Phi 150). But javi comes in at #4 with 148, confirming the previous assumption about him making big trades.