NBA moves back trade deadline for 2017-18 season

Next year's NBA trade deadline will come earlier than usual.

The league announced Wednesday that it has approved shifting the 2017-18 deadline to Feb. 8 following a vote from the Board of Governors.

The deadline traditionally falls shortly after All-Star weekend later in February.

Part of the rationale behind moving the date up could be last season's situation with DeMarcus Cousins. During the All-Star Game in New Orleans, it was reported that the Sacramento Kings would send him packing as part of a blockbuster trade with the Pelicans.

The earlier deadline would also give teams more time to incorporate new acquisitions into their rotations for the second half of the campaign and heading toward the playoffs.

The regular season is also reportedly slated to start about seven to 10 days earlier, thus reducing the amount of back-to-backs for the 30 teams.