I see what you are getting at, but it is still there for the reasons I stated. Around the 16th there still are a lot of teams that could make it to the playoffs so they will not want to take the risk. After the 18th there probably be fewer and that is when some trades might look better, as the teams out for sure will have nothing to lose to give up there good players for players that don't score anything. It's just there to make it fair. I've seen friends trade to great players cuz they were out of the playoff for two players that scored half the points they gave up.

But again, the league owners want to drop this rule, I will consider it.