Does anyone know why the NBA has a trade deadline? I don't see the point of having one, and I'm not sure if other sports have one. What if a team trying to make a run in the playoffs loses one of their main 5 after the dead line? Well, under the current rules they're screwed, but does it have to be that way? Move this to the out of bounds section if it fits better there mods. Edit: I looked up NBA trade deadline on NBA.com http://www.nba.com/history/deadline_deals.html It has record of all the NBA trade deadline trades since 1987, so I'm guessing the trade deadline started in 1987.