The campaign by the nation’s largest federation of unions is called the Department of People Who Work for a Living, a play on Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

A few weeks ago, a league executive told me to expect a relatively quiet trade deadline, one without a blockbuster deal. There were too many cap restrictions, more buyers than sellers on the market, and a general pessimism about deals getting done.

In the weeks leading up to the 2025 NBA trade deadline, the prevailing wisdom among the basketball punditry held that we wouldn’t see much transaction action, what with the big, bad collective bargaining agreement restricting stars’ freedom of movement,