GMOTY 2026-27

[Hoff]

Hey all, and welcome to the 2nd season of GMOTY with our new process! Voting will begin as sim #16 is posted and remain open until before playoffs round 2, part 2.

As a reminder, here is the process:
- Our esteemed GMOTY committee has selected 4 GMOTY Finalists
- To submit your vote, text your RANKED TOP THREE choices to the GMOTY Committee Chair (Hoff, 914-629-0064). All voters will earn 100 RP, just as they did in the prior format.
- After votes are tallied, I'll post the winner in this thread (or will post a runoff in the event of a tie). After the winner has been posted, feel free to post your voting rationale in this thread for the bonus 200 RP
- Feel free to refer to the rule change thread here https://simleaguenirvana.com/posting.ph ... it&p=43976

Winner Gets:
-1,000 RPs
-Ability to add or subtract a year to any player's contract on your team. Must be done within one season.

Must apply removal year (if only year) prior to Day 1 of FA. If you do it during FA, it will remove "Last Team" and bird rights and FBB will not let Ashes change that.

GMOTY Finalists (in no particular order)

Josh
Team Performance: 51-31 +5.2 PD (+24 wins vs. 2025)
Trades Made:
Traded Alex Sarr, Labaron Philon, and salary for Goga Bitadze
Traded Kris Dunn, Van 27, Van 28 for Dyson Daniels
Traded Patrick Williams, salary, Van 29, Van 30, and SA 29 for Jaylen Brown
Net Assets Out: Alex Sarr, Labaron Philon, Kris Dunn, Patrick Williams, VAN 27-30, SA 29
Net Assets In: Goga Bitadze, Dyson Daniels, Jaylen Brown
Relevant FA Signings: Blake Griffin to MLE
Depth Chart: Normal outside, minor tweaks as season progressed
Overall Value Added:
In a year where the Grizz were on the tank reset clock, Josh was able to turn his team from lotto into legitimate title contender with a series of win now moves that should prepare him well to win now and in the future. He was able to secure multiple key contributors under the age of 30 on long term deals (Goga and Dyson Daniels) while keeping his most promising prospect (Kel’el Ware). The team as constructed has two rookie contract guys playing 30+ mpg (Ware and Knueppel) and still has over $11m under the hard cap to help him retain Ware in the event he chooses not to resign. After drafting well over the previous few offseasons, the team is set up to take advantage of a weak Western conference for the next several seasons primarily based on the win now moves he made - and, depending on the outcomes of Sarr and Philon, it seems he dramatically underpaid in each of those moves given how bad the Grizzlies picks are likely to be.

Jordo
Team Performance: 55-27 +6.7 PD (+28 wins vs 2025)
Trades Made:
Traded Anthony Black, SAS 2026/2030/2031 FRP, MIL 2030 FRP for LaMelo Ball
Traded Pick 28 in 2026 draft for 100 RP
Traded R2P6 for 50 RP
Traded Monte Morris, Kobe Bufkin, SAS 31/32 SRPs for Kevin Durant
Traded Jaden Ivey, 250 RPs for Jakob Poeltl
Traded Kevin Durant, SAS 27/28/32 FRPs for Lebron James, Josh Hart, Charles Bassey, Nathan Knight
Net Assets Out: SAS 26/27/28/30/31/32, MIL 30, Pick 28 and 35 in 2026, Anthony Black, Kevin Durant, Jaden Ivey, Monte Morris, Kobe Bufkin, 250 RP
Net Assets In: LaMelo Ball, Lebron James, Josh Hart, Charles Bassey, Nathan Knight, Jakob Poeltl, 150 RP
Relevant FA Signings:
Spurs Sign C Karl Anthony-Towns for $131,250,000 over 6 years
Spurs Sign C Naz Reid for $4,500,000 over one year.
Depth Chart: Ran Fast, Normal, Normal, Outside for the season. Mostly LaMelo, KAT, Dick as options 1/2/3
Overall Value Added: Jordo didn't hesitate to start making moves before snagging KAT in FA. Trading for LaMelo pre-draft in a solid blockbuster trade, sending 4 FRPs and Anthony Black to Jesse pre-draft. Followed it up by maneuvering some picks for RP during the draft, and eventually landing big with a KAT FA signing. From there Jordo tried to hone in this roster trading for KD early in the season, as well as shoring up some front court depth with Jakob for a small serving of RP. Spent most of the season quiet and the team came together and finally finished off at the deadline with another blockbuster, sending KD and 3 FRPs for Lebron and Hart. If there is one thing for certain, jordo isn't afraid to swing those picks around, sending all 6 of his available picks for win now guys. Now sitting close to the top of the west, the spurs have gone from zero to hero in a season.

Merv:
Team Performance: 62-20 +11.4 PD (+6 wins vs. 2025)
Trades Made:
Pre-TC/Offszn
5/30/25: Magic trade 200RP for the first pick in the 2nd round. Player: Xavien Lee.
6/02/25: Magic trade Kevin Durant, Spurs trade Monte Morris, Kobe Bufkin, & SAS 31 and 32 SRP(s).
6/02/25: Magic trade Monte Morris and 275RP, Cavs trade Pascal Siakam.
6/02/25: Magic trade Montrezl Harrell, Kobe Bufkin, ORL 30 FRP, PHX 27 SRP, & 69RP. SoNicks trade Brandon Clarke, Frank Ntilikina, and 69RP.
In Season:
6/11/25: Magic trade Denzel Valentine, Frank Ntilikina, 1500RP, & ORL 32 SRP. Clippers trade Lebron James.
6/13/25: Magic trade Pascal Siakam, Mavericks trade Rudy Gobert & Isaiah Wong.
6/16/25: Magic trade Lebron James, Kings trade Marvin Bagley III.
6/18/25: Magic trade Xavien Lee(NDL), Kings trade Jacob Cofie(NDL).
Net Assets Out:
Players:Kevin Durant, Monte Morris, Montrezl Harrell, Kobe Bufkin, Denzel Valentine, Frank Ntilikina, Pascal Siakam, Lebron James, Xavien Lee(NDL).
RP: 1769RP
Draft Capital: ORL 30 FRP, PHX 27 SRP, ORL 32 SRP.
Net Assets In:
Players: Brandon Clarke, Rudy Gobert, Isaiah Wong, Marvin Bagley III, Jacob Cofie(NDL).
RP: 69RP
Draft Capital: SAS 31 & 32 SRP(s)
Relevant FA Signings: N/A
Depth Chart: 100% outside. Murray/Rui/Scoot as the first three options until the Bagley trade, then Bagley replaced Scoot as the third option for remainder. Fast pace, normal trap, and pressing sometimes for the whole season. Experimented with Bron at PG for a little and Rui as backup 2-5 for a while.
Overall Value Added: Merv has used a solid offseason to set up a spectacular season. All his offseason trades directly fed into his in season trades. He was ready when Edey went down by flipping for a ready made starter in Gobert. When the Lebron experiment didnt yield the wanted return, Merv flipped him into the BagMan, a perennial playoff winner to hold down the SF spot for good. I think most of us expected the Magic to be better with a whole season of Murray but not this good. The trades for Clarke and Gobert filled out the frontcourt superbly. Wing depth is a little light but Colby Jones is a really underrated defensive ace as a backup and Scoot has really come into his own this season. Rui has a career high in rebounds this year. Murrays FG% and 3P% are currently career highs as well. Merv has become a pro-SLN-gamer and this team is just clicking perfectly because of it.

Jesse
Team Performance: 49-33, +3.3 PD (+4 wins vs. 2025)
Trades Made:
6/18: Kings traded King James, Banchero, Clayton, SAC 2032 FRP, SAS 2028 SRP for Aaron Gordon and Dereck Lively
6/18: Kings traded Jacob Cofie to Orlando for Xaivian Lee and Hard Feelings
6/16: Kings traded Bagley for LeBron with ORL
6/13: Kings traded Buzelis and a 28 FRP to the Mavs for Podziemski and a VAN 27 FRP
6/11: Kings traded TJ Warren and 900 RP for Trae Young
6/9: Kings traded Black, Peat, Camarra, Champagnie, Queta, and 4 FRP for Holmgren and Banchero
6/4: Kings traded Mitch and Duncan Robinson for Bagley, Dozier, and 350 RP
5/29: Traded pick 7 and 15 for 6 (used on Peat)
5/29: Traded Lamelo for 4 FRP and Anthony Black
Traded MPJ for Bonga
TLDR Jesse made a fuck ton of trades and I have to run to a meeting. Most importantly was the one for Gordon and Lively at the deadline (I guess?). A lot of Big ones with a capital B.
Relevant FA Signings:
Duncan Robinson - $9,660,000 over 2 years.
Mitchell Robinson - $9,660,000 over 2 years.
Julian Champagnie - $9,775,000 over 2 years.
Depth Chart:
Jesse’s DC was ALL OVER THE PLACE this year as he started off with Black at PG, Bonga backing up, etc. Eventually he realized with Bonga’s massive deal he had to play him at PG and did so for most of the year. On his current heater he has basically ran Fast and Outside with Gordon, Oubre, and Holmgren as options. Though he messed around the final sim with Trae at PG and Bonga back up 1-3 (been there before bruuuuuuuther).
Overall Value Added:
Jesse’s mammo trade at the deadline for Gordon has propelled the squad to an 18-4 finish to the season and he’s roaring into the playoffs. He made about 5 million moves to get the Kings to this place and you’d have to think he was the most active of the GM’s this season. Can his fantastic finish propel him to GMOTY? The Gordon swing is so massive that it’s hard to pass up though there’s an argument that the Bonga deal will hurt him in the long run at its current pace.

[Hoff]

Updated

[pacers]

TLDR Jesse made a fuck ton of trades and I have to run to a meeting

[Merv]

Justice for Nick! Guy traded his second best player and got better and he’s not even a candidate?!

[Merv]

Also Jesse hit the Under on 5.5 trades after the first sim. What a bum. Everyone said that was a lock for the over

[Jordo]

Can I still vote for Nick

[jwoo]

Great job on the research part - but think we should still try not to editorialize these and limit some of the spinzone stuff on value just so things are presented fairly. Let people draw their own conclusions etc

Also strongly think Nick should be a candidate

[GX.]

Great job on the research part - but think we should still try not to editorialize these and limit some of the spinzone stuff on value just so things are presented fairly. Let people draw their own conclusions etc

Also strongly think Nick should be a candidate

Guys just can’t have fun anymore I guess

[Hoff]

We are not in the business of preventing people from voting for potential candidates. Feel free to vote for who you think deserves the award the most. The write-ups are just suggestions.

[Jesse]

Don’t vote for me I def don’t deserve it this year