Trade (sports)

In North American professional sports, a trade is a sports league transaction involving an exchange of players' contracts or draft picks between sports clubs. Cash is another commodity that may be packaged together with contracts or draft picks to complete a trade. Typically, trades are completed between two clubs, but there are instances where trades are consummated among three or more clubs.

"Trade bait" refers to a player on a team used to entice another team into making a trade with them. Occasionally, it just refers to a player that is traded often or any player that is traded at all. For example, John Wockenfuss was used as trade bait in 1984, when the Detroit Tigers sent him along with Glenn Wilson to the Philadelphia Phillies for Willie Hernández and Dave Bergman.

A no-trade clause is an amendment to a contract, usually relevant in American professional sports, wherein a player may not be traded to another club without the player's consent. Sometimes this clause is implemented by the club itself, but the vast majority are requested by the athlete and his sports agent. In many cases, these no-trade clauses are limited, where a club may be limited to trading the athlete only at certain times, or only to a certain team or geographical area.

No-trade clauses are found in most sports in North America, including Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, and some minor leagues around the country. Many European leagues, mostly professional soccer and basketball, also implement these contract amendments.

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