Daily NBA GM Challenges
Build the roster. Break the cap. Make the call.
You run the front office. Fix real cap crises, draft legend squads, and force trades the league can't reject — then see if the grade agrees.
The Games
Four ways to prove it.
Fix a real front-office problem.
Load a team with a real cap or roster crisis. Build a legal trade that solves the brief — apron, tax, age, or fit — under full CBA rules.
Build a 6-man squad to today's theme.
A new twist every day — bald all-stars, #0 jerseys, lefties only. Pick from all-time legends and get an AI-graded verdict.
Pull off a trade that beats the league office.
Build a multi-team deal that's legal under the full 2023 CBA, graded by our model, and cross-checked against ESPN when they've weighed in.
Pick the deal you'd actually pull the trigger on.
Choose a target. We surface the legal, mutually acceptable trades. You pick the one you'd greenlight — and see how it grades.
Daily GM Challenge
Today's Objective: Phoenix Suns
"The Suns are deeply restricted by the Second Apron. Shed $12M in active salary while maintaining a starting lineup with at least two All-Stars."
Salary matching, BYC, poison pill, aprons, Stepien, seven-pick rule.
Every owed first and second through 2032, with protections and swaps.
Heuristic over VORP, age, contract surplus, fit, pick value — cross-checked against ESPN's real-world grade.
2026 Summer League Report: Top 30 Picks Graded
Grades and takeaways from Las Vegas — AJ Dybantsa to Koa Peat.
Read the reportWhat this site is
A trade tool that actually plays by the rules.
Most NBA trade simulators check salary matching and call it a day. Hardwood Machine runs every proposal through the full 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement — the first and second apron hard caps, Base Year Compensation on recently re-signed players, the poison-pill provision on extended rookies, the Stepien Rule, and the seven-pick rule. If a deal is illegal, we say which rule broke it.
Every proposal is graded per team on seven measurable components: on-court value (VORP), an age curve, team fit, contract surplus, accolades, star power, and box-score trend. Picks convert to units on a Kevin Pelton–style curve, adjusted for protections and swaps. When a real ESPN trade grade matches your proposal, we show it next to ours as a sanity check.
Read the full methodology, the CBA guide, or the glossary if anything on the site uses a term you'd like defined.
Guides
Read up before you build.
FAQ
Common questions
- Is Hardwood Machine free?
- Yes. Four free daily NBA GM games — no account, no login, no paywall. Trades, challenges, guides — everything is free to use.
- What are the four games?
- GM Challenge (fix a real front-office crisis under the CBA), Theme Squad (draft a 6-man legends roster to today's theme), Trade Machine Challenge (build a CBA-legal trade and see who says no), and Trade Finder Game (pick the best deal the engine surfaces for your player).
- Does the trade machine actually enforce the CBA?
- Yes. Every proposal is checked against 2023 CBA salary-matching tiers, first- and second-apron hard caps, Base Year Compensation, the poison-pill provision on extended rookies, the Stepien Rule, and the seven-pick rule. If a deal is illegal, the tool names the exact rule that broke it.
- Where do the salaries and rosters come from?
- Rosters come from the public balldontlie API. Salaries are overlaid from public league cap sources and ESPN's published cap sheet. Draft-pick obligations are tracked manually against public reporting.
- How is the grade calculated?
- Each team's grade is a weighted sum of on-court value (VORP), an age curve, contract surplus, team fit, accolades, star power, and box-score trend. Picks are valued on a Kevin Pelton-style curve. Full details are on the methodology page.
- How often is the data updated?
- Live rosters and salaries refresh from source APIs every few hours. Draft-pick obligations are updated manually after any real-world trade that changes them.
- Are you affiliated with the NBA?
- No. Hardwood Machine is an independent site. It is not affiliated with the NBA, the NBPA, ESPN, or any team.