Imagine you're watching Game 1 of the playoffs and your favorite team is totally outmatched at one position by their opponent. Then, between Game 1 and Game 2, they trade two players for that one player they need from some lotto-bound team. The action is intense, crazy, exciting. No team is truly out of the playoffs; they're all players in the mad market as teams literally switch up their lineups to get further into the playoffs. Now, imagine also that contracts end the day after the team's season ends, and everyone no longer on contract to a lotto team is suddenly a UFA between the end of the regular season and the playoffs. The playoff teams vie to sign these prized free agents before the playoffs begin. Give them a week between regular season and the playoffs. Chaos? Definitely. Exciting? You better believe it!
No. This isn't the MLB where you can plug any good batter with solid numbers into a lineup and help the team. Basketball is built on familiarity with teammates. Trades during the season almost always fail for the same reasons. The time to change rosters for NBA success is in the offseason. Plus who wants to see a bunch of playoff teams with totally different rosters than in the regular season? The regular season already matters little; this would make it nearly irrelevant. Instead of chaos I'd call it plain stupid. Sorry BlazerCaravan, you have some great posts, interesting ideas; but this ain't one of them.
It would make the regular season an absolute waste of time and the big market teams would alays benefit from this.