Hardwood GM

You do not play the games. You sit in the chair above them. Hardwood GM is a text-based basketball management simulation about the part of the sport nobody films: the phone calls, the contract years, the conversation with a franchise player who wants to know what the plan is and will not accept a non-answer. THE LOCKER ROOM IS THE GAME Every player has a personality — an Alpha Dog who needs the ball, a Company Man who buys in, a Ring Chaser counting the years he has left. Praise the wrong one and it lands as condescension. Ignore a complaint long enough and it hardens into a trade demand, then into a player who stops showing up. You get four Action Points a day. You cannot talk to everyone, and the game knows it. BUILD IT HOWEVER YOU LIKE - A trade machine that prices talent, age, upside and contract surplus, and refuses to let a pile of role players buy a superstar - Draft picks that mean something, with protections, swaps and a lottery that genuinely rewards a rebuild - A scouting department working next June's class from opening night, with a consensus board that keeps moving whether you are watching or not - Salary cap, luxury tax, the apron, buyouts, two-way contracts, a February trade deadline A LEAGUE THAT LIVES WITHOUT YOU Rival teams trade with each other. Coaches lose their jobs. Records fall, numbers go into the rafters, and the Hall of Fame fills up with players you drafted, developed, and eventually had to let go. A FULL SEASON, EVERY SEASON 82 games, a 16-team playoff bracket, MVP, Finals MVP decided on the Finals alone, All-Star weekend, and an owner with three mandates and a limited supply of patience. Free to play. The adverts are optional, rewarded, and never interrupt you — watch one if you want a rewind, an extra scouting report or a second opinion on a trade, or never watch one at all. A single one-time purchase, the Front Office Pass, unlocks extra start scenarios if you want them — it never touches ads or tokens. Fictional league, fictional players. Every career generates a fresh world.