Trading between teams is important to success in the league, both from a strategic perspective and a social perspective. Managers are therefore encouraged to seek out trade opportunities whenever appropriate. On the other hand, of all league activities, trading has the greatest potential for creating hard feelings between managers. As a result, managers are strongly encouraged to negotiate with other managers in a friendly, up-front and ethical fashion, seeking "win-win" deals whenever possible.
A trade between teams may include any of the following:
| Notes | |
| Players | Trades do not have to be "even" in terms of number of players. If a team receives more players than it gives up, it may be necessary to cut players in order to maintain the roster limit (see below). A team must own a player at the time of the trade in order to include him in a trade. Trades involving a "player to be named later" are prohibited. |
| Money | The amount of money included in the trade cannot exceed the team's total balance at the time of the trade. Only one of the two teams involved in the trade can include money in the trade. Money amount must be a multiple of $1,000. |
| Draft Choices |
These are selection rights for a specific position in the next Free Agent Draft. Draft choices for Free Agent Drafts beyond the very next one may not be traded. |
Depending on the timing of a trade, the players involved may not change teams immediately. During the regular season, the players change teams according to the schedule below. For example, a player traded on April 10 joins his new team for the May series while a player traded on April 28 joins his new team for the June series. These periods coincide with the first six "cut-down" dates of the season (see Roster Limits).
| Trade Deadline | Takes Effect In |
| March 25 | April, April/May |
| April 25 | May |
| May 25 | June |
| June 25 | July |
| July 25 | August |
| August 25 | September |
Note: Trading Periods end at midnight on the designated date
During the off-season, trades take effect immediately (of course, players don't play for their new teams until the beginning of the next season). The only exceptions are the blackout periods described below. Trades made during these periods take effect as soon as trading resumes after the period.
| Blackout Period Begins | Trading Resumes |
| Just prior to Rookie Draft week (begins first Monday of December) | After Rookie Draft |
| 13 days prior to Free Agent Draft (midnight Sunday) | After Free Agent Draft |
Note: Teams may opt to make trades effective after the Free Agent Draft in order to gain access to their new year's money allotment or to trade draft picks from the following year. Although this is permissible, managers should use discretion in making these types of trades as they cannot be reported to the web site until after the Free Agent Draft.
Trades are not valid until they are reported to the league. It is the date reported which determines which Trading Period the trade is effective in. All trades must be reported via the ABA web site. The process for reporting trades is as follows:
The ABA has committed to the following trading policies, putting in place certain trading restrictions to enforce these policies:
| Policy | Restriction |
| A team must be up to date with series reports in order to be eligible to make trades during the regular season. | If a team has any outstanding series reports from a prior calendar month, the web site will not accept any trade report involving that team. |
| When a trade has been agreed upon, the deal is final. Subsequent alterations and/or cancellations are not permitted. | When a trade has been reported to the web site, none of the players traded may be reacquired by the team trading them for a period of at least 14 days following the trade. |
| Players may not be "loaned" to contending teams. A loaner deal would typically be one in which a non-contending team trades a player to a contending team with the arrangement that the player will be returned at the end of the season. | Regulated restrictions to prevent loaners has proven unwieldy so we are depending on the integrity of our managers to not engage in this unfair behavior. |
| Trades involving rookies who have not yet entered the league (i.e., before the Rookie Draft) are prohibited. | Such behavior would require collusion between two managers regarding the rookie bid process which is strictly prohibited. As with the item above, we are depending on the integrity of our managers to not cheat the rest of the league by acquiring a rookie in a manner contrary to league rules. |
Notes:
All regulated restrictions defined above will be automatically managed by the ABA web site. If a player is ineligible to be traded from one team to another, it will be impossible to check off that player's name on the Report Trades screen when reporting the trade. A list of all such restrictions may be viewed at any time by selecting "Restricted List" from the menu.