NOTE: TNL (The Ninja League) is a fantasy Ninja Warrior league hosted on the simulator "Ninja Machine", which is made by Alex Cunningham.

Los Angeles acquires: Jay Lewis

DC acquires: Matthew Bradley, Jun Sato

Though Lewis was one of the three most tenured players in TNL, his proclivity to underperform in the playoffs was a major talking point headed into Season Seven. Both Lewis and his Defenders co-star Yuji Urushihara '10 had rocky seasons. Lewis failed to defeat the fourth obstacle (usually the midpoint of the Third Stage) twelve times to Urushihara's eleven.

This culminated in a disastrous Play-In tournament where eighth-seeded DC fell to No. 7 Oakland, 39–32. This put them in a do-or-die matchup against the defending champions in No. 10 Houston. This was a battle they couldn't win and DC was handily defeated, 59–38, after Lewis and Urushihara combined for just six points.

Though Lewis' inconsistency showed, Bradley was just as, if not more, inconsistent. Fifteen of his runs — almost half of his games — saw him fail to get past the course's midpoint. Bradley did benefit from a more cohesive Los Angeles unit that earned the No. 4 seed and reached the semifinals, but his value wasn't far off Lewis'. Bradley, 22, does have large shoes to fill for the Defenders, but he's not the only part of the trade.

Jun Sato is the second part the Defenders receive, and his contributions will be valuable to a DC team branded "top-heavy". Sato, 33, has value at both the Stage One and Stage Two positions, allowing both roster flexibility for a DC roster that has sorely needed it, with wins having come almost exclusively from the Lewis-Urushihara duo, but also trade value to get any other assets that DC might desire.

DC has once again been the all-or-nothing team. Currently sitting at 5–2, the team looks to be in a comfortable space, but this is mostly down to Urushihara, Bradley and Sato — and not much else. Urushihara, in particular, has had a blistering start to the season, capturing three Gauntlet (bonus round eligible to top four teams per round) victories and pacing the Most Valuable Player standings by almost 100 points. DC's philosophy hasn't changed much — get the very best players and expect wins to come — but the personnel has.

Los Angeles hasn't had as smooth sailing so far. Currently at 4–3, the team holds the 12th spot. Lewis started the season off cold with just one clear through the first five weeks, but has since bounced back with back-to-back clears to put himself seventh in the MVP rankings after seven rounds. Though Los Angeles may have sacrificed depth with the trade, they likely landed the best player in the deal.

Time will tell, but the return seems decent enough for both teams that neither should have a regret about it thus far.