Conventional NBA wisdom suggests that the in-season trade market generally doesn’t heat up until at least mid-December. Entering the regular season, most teams want a little time to assess their rosters and aren’t eager to blow things up right away. Plus, offseason signees aren’t eligible to be traded until at least December 15, so clubs have more flexibility to build a variety of packages once that date passes.
However, in recent years, teams have completed a handful of noteworthy trades in November. The blockbuster deal sending Jimmy Butler from Minnesota to Philadelphia is just the latest in a series of impactful deals completed more than a month before December 15.
A few factors could be contributing to the recent rise in early-season deals. The NBA moved up the start date of its regular season within the last two years, so opening night lands in mid-October instead of late October. While this change isn’t massive, it means that a team that might once have played its second or third game of the season on Halloween could now be mired in a six-game losing streak by that point, creating a little more urgency to make a deal earlier in the calendar year.
Additionally, Butler’s trade request, which broke in September, happened at an unusual time of year and put pressure on Minnesota. Once the Timberwolves entered the regular season with Butler still on the roster, it seemed to be just a matter of time until they resolved the situation by finding a new home for their All-Star swingman. The same thing happened a year ago with another standout player, as we outline below.
Here’s a look at the NBA’s November trades over the last three seasons:
November 12, 2018:
- Timberwolves trade Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton to the Sixers in exchange for Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless, and a 2022 second-round pick.
It has been a while since an All-NBA player like Butler has been traded this early in the regular season. Typically, that sort of deal happens in the offseason – as in the case of Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George – or closer to the trade deadline, like when Blake Griffin or DeMarcus Cousins were moved.
In this case, the Timberwolves had to make a move sooner rather than later, and they found a willing trade partner in the Sixers, who have shown no hesitation to shake things up early in the season over the last few years — Philadelphia has made an in-season trade before December 8 in each of the last three seasons.
November 7, 2017:
- Suns trade Eric Bledsoe to the Bucks in exchange for Greg Monroe, a protected first-round pick, and a protected second-round pick.
Like Butler, Bledsoe expressed dissatisfaction with his situation in the fall, necessitating an early-season trade. The Suns moved a little faster than the Timberwolves did, holding Bledsoe out of action for about two weeks following his infamous “I don’t wanna be here” tweet before they found a deal.
In retrospect, it might’ve made sense for the Suns – who were already essentially in tank mode early in 2017/18 season – to exercise a little more patience as they shopped Bledsoe. Monroe was a salary-matching piece who was later bought out, and the first-round pick Phoenix got in the deal likely won’t change hands until 2020, at which point it may well land in the 20s. On top of that, the second-round pick didn’t convey at all due to its protections.
Bledsoe is now a key part of a resurgent Bucks team, and he’s very much enjoying his time in Milwaukee.
November 1, 2016:
- Sixers trade Jerami Grant to the Thunder in exchange for Ersan Ilyasova and a protected 2020 first-round pick.
At the time this deal was completed, it was viewed as a relatively minor move, but Grant has blossomed into a major contributor in Oklahoma City, re-signing with the Thunder on a three-year, $27MM deal this past summer.
Ilyasova, meanwhile, was essentially a salary dump in this trade, but he has since re-emerged as a reliable rotation player, thriving as a stretch four in Philadelphia last season and Milwaukee this season.
As for the pick sent to the Sixers in this deal, it was re-routed to Orlando in the 2017 trade that allowed Philadelphia to snag Anzejs Pasecniks‘s draft-and-stash rights. If the pick lands in the top 20 in 2020, it will turn into 2022 and 2023 second-round picks for the Magic.
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