While it’s common for a team and a player to explore a new extension during the offseason and then shut down talks during the season if they don’t get something done, the Wizards and Davis intend to take the opposite route, Robbins explains. League sources tell The Athletic that if the two parties have “meaningful” discussions about an extension, those discussions will occur during the 2026/27 season, not before it.

Robbins speculates that Davis and the Wizards want to learn more about one another before making a long-term commitment, given that the 10-time All-Star has yet to play a single game for the club. Davis was traded from Dallas to Washington at February’s deadline but missed the rest of the 2025/26 season due to a hand injury.

As Robbins writes, Davis participated in the Wizards’ optional mini-camp in July and has spoken glowingly about the team’s young core, but he also expressed some concerns in the spring about whether Washington will be able to quickly transform into a contender after having been one of the league’s worst teams for the past three years. He may want to see the Wizards in action this fall before seriously considering an extension.

The Wizards, meanwhile, might be more comfortable waiting to see if Davis looks healthy and productive this fall, given that he has appeared in just 62 total games over the past two seasons, including 20 in ’25/26. Not extending the 33-year-old at this point will also ensure he remains trade-eligible, whereas an extension could make him ineligible to be dealt for six months, depending on the exact terms.

For what it’s worth, reporting this offseason has repeatedly indicated Washington isn’t looking to move the big man, but it’s possible that stance could change depending on how the first half of the season plays out.

Davis will earn roughly $58.5MM in 2026/27 and holds a $62.8MM player option for the ’27/28 season. If he waits until after the regular season gets underway to negotiate an extension, he would have to eliminate the player option and replace it with the first year of his new deal.

A maximum-salary extension would start at 105% of Davis’ ’26/27 salary and could be worth up to $275MM over four seasons, though – as Robbins notes – it’s hard to imagine the Wizards would put that sort of offer on the table for a 33-year-old who has battled injuries in recent years. Still, the club showed when it gave Trae Young a four-year, $212MM+ deal last month that it’s willing to invest heavily in its veteran talent.

Davis continues to produce at a high level when he’s available. In his 20 outings for the Mavericks last season, he averaged 20.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.7 blocks in 31.3 minutes per game while shooting 50.6% from the floor.

Green was eligible to receive a formal no-trade clause in this deal, as the rule stipulates a player must have spent at least four years with their current team, be signing a new deal rather than an extension, and have at least eight seasons of total NBA experience, but no such provision was forthcoming from Golden State.

In addition to the explicit no-trade clause he was eligible for, Green could also have received an implicit no-trade clause, since he was signing a one-year deal with his current team, but he waived that right as well, instead receiving a 15% trade kicker, as he had in his previous deal, per ESPN’s Anthony Slater (Twitter link).

In the latest episode of his podcast, Green spoke about that decision, explaining his mindset in negotiations with the team.

“I think it was something that we could have fought over, but it wasn’t worth fighting over,” he said (YouTube link). “I think if the Warriors want to trade me at some point in the season, they want to trade me. I’ve never been a guy who wants to stay somewhere where I’m not wanted.”

With limited salary-matchign assets at the Warriors’ disposal, Green’s name appeared in trade rumors in February when Golden State was pursuing Giannis Antetokounmpo. That hasn’t happened often during his 14-year tenure with the club, but he expressed at the time that he understand the business side of things, even though there has long been reported mutual interest in having Green finish his career in the Bay Area.

“I think there is a partnership that this works for us, it works,” Green said. “If it doesn’t, it doesn’t, you know, and I never want to be that guy anyway. So, to sit and fight over a no-trade clause, I don’t think it was worth it. It’s pointless. So, that wasn’t a thing.”

Only one player will have an official no-trade clause entering the 2026/27 season: Damian Lillard, who negotiated one into his deal last summer. Eight other players, including Green’s teammate Al Horford, have de facto NTCs that will give them the right to veto a trade this season.

Walker is an athletic, 6’4″ shooting guard who will help bolster Denver’s backcourt depth after they lost Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Pickett this summer.

The 27-year-old out of the University of Miami played for Maccabi Tel Aviv last season, his first full year out of the league since being drafted 18th overall by the Spurs in 2018.

Walker averaged 15.2 points per game on .394/.351/.758 shooting splits in EuroLeague play for Maccabi in 2025/26. He shot the ball better in 13 outings in Israel’s domestic league, averaging 15.6 PPG with a .507 FG% and .407 3PT%.

Walker was technically still under contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv and his deal included an NBA opt-out deadline of July 15, but the team was willing to let him go even though Denver’s offer didn’t arrive until August, tweets Marc Stein of The Stein Line. A report last weekend indicated that he and his EuroLeague club were looking to part ways.

Over his last five seasons in the NBA, Walker averaged 11.3 points in 22.4 minutes per night while shooting 35.2% from deep. He most recently played 20 games for the Sixers during the 2024/25 season, averaging a career-high 12.4 points per game.

It’s unclear if Walker’s deal with the Nuggets will be fully guaranteed, but if they envision him being part of their regular season roster, it likely spells the end of Bruce Brown‘s time in Denver. The team, which already has 13 players on standard guaranteed contracts prior to officially signing Walker, is still looking to resolve Peyton Watson‘s restricted free agency negotiations as well.

Pedulla played seven games for the Clippers last season, making 5-of-15 field goal attempts for 13 points in 31 total minutes. He spent the majority of his time with the team’s G League affiliate, the San Diego Clippers, after starting the season with the Rip City Remix, the Trail Blazers’ affiliate.

Pedulla was named G League Rookie of the Year after averaging 23.6 points, 6.7 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 28 total games between the Remix and the San Diego Clippers.

Pedulla was one of two Clippers two-way players, alongside this year’s 55th overall pick, Nick Martinelli. L.A. has reportedly agreed to two-way deals with Jamarion Sharp and Jalen Pickett, necessitating a roster move, since teams only have three two-way slots apiece.

The contract is fully guaranteed and contains no options, per Suns insider John Gambadoro (Twitter link). The first year will start at just over $22MM.

Brooks had a career year as a scorer last season, his first with the club after coming over from the Rockets in the Kevin Durant trade. He averaged 20.2 points on 17.1 shots per game, both career highs, and helped establish a tough-minded mindset for a team looking to reestablish its culture following Durant’s departure.

Phoenix exceeded expectations after revamping its roster during the 2025 offseason, finishing seventh in the Western Conference before being swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Thunder. Brooks’ ability to step up and be the secondary scoring option on the team while stabilizing the wing depth as Jalen Green battled health issues was a crucial part of that success.

Acknowledging that there’s a chance the deal “might approach overpay territory” before it expires, Gerald Bourguet of Suns After Dark (Twitter link) notes that the Suns value Brooks’ off-court leadership and culture-setting as much as anything he does on the floor.

The deal amounts to around 13% of the salary cap, according to Yossi Gozlan of the Third Apron (Twitter link), who believes it should retain positive trade value going forward. Because he’ll officially sign before August 11, Brooks will be eligible to be moved at the February 11 trade deadline if the team decides to go that route.

The Suns clearly valued continuity after overachieving last season, making it a priority to lock up several of their key contributors, Charania notes (via Twitter), with Collin Gillespie, Mark Williams, and Jordan Goodwin each signing new deals as free agents. This extension further solidifies those efforts, keeping Brooks under contract through the 2029/30 season.

There was hope that the matter could be neatly resolved if the Kings decided to buy out or waive-and-stretch Zach LaVine, a high-level floor-spacing guard who has one year and $49MM remaining on his deal. However, Sacramento is reportedly uninterested in going down that route at the moment.

Miami can only offer about $8MM from its mid-level exception, and it’s unlikely that LaVine giving up that amount would move the needle for the Kings, whereas if Klay Thompson gave up a similar amount on his smaller expiring deal, it could hold more appeal for the Mavericks, Ira Winderman writes for the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The Kings are also not facing any kind of financial hardship that would make them desperate to get off LaVine’s deal before it expires next season, Anthony Chiang notes for the Miami Herald. Ultimately, any possibility of LaVine joining the Heat could come down to how much the 31-year-old would be willing to sacrifice to facilitate the move.

We have more from the Heat:

• While the odds are against LaVine heading to South Beach, the Heat still need to fill at least two roster spots with a little over $10MM in wiggle room below the first apron. Bradley Beal, DeMar DeRozan, and Thompson are three potential targets they’ve been frequently linked to, prompting Chiang to weigh each player’s pros and cons. Beal’s health remains a question mark – he hasn’t appeared in 60+ games since the 2020/21 season – but he can play either guard spot and reliably knock down outside shots. DeRozan remains productive despite being on the threshold of turning 37, but he would not bring the three-point shooting the team so badly needs. As for Thompson, he’s still a high-level shooter, but he struggles with contributing in other areas at this point and isn’t currently a free agent like Beal and DeRozan.
• The Heat’s moves this summer have generated both intense excitement and some skepticism, depending on who you talk to. While the defense has the potential to be one of the best in the league, there are real questions about how the offense will function with limited ball-handlers and shooters. Still, one key reason for optimism has been largely overlooked, Winderman writes: Erik Spoelstra‘s elite coaching ability. Spoelstra has accomplished great things with far less impressive rosters in the past, and has proven himself more than capable of adjusting his approach to fit his personnel. He has also been one of the better coaches in the league at empowering unheralded players and turning them into contributors on winning teams, which will be a crucial aspect of this team’s ability to regain its foothold as a true title contender.
• Third-year wing and dunk contest champion Keshad Johnson has spent a lot of time around Heat players this summer, but it appears that the team’s preference is to use its remaining roster spots to sign more established veterans, Winderman writes in a mailbag column. There’s still a chance Johnson could return on a two-way deal, but that would require him to essentially accept a demotion after playing on a standard contract over the last two seasons.

The extremely athletic 6’8″ forward was the 40th pick in the 2026 draft and proceeded to average 13.0 points, 2.7 steals, and 1.3 blocks in 26.0 minutes per game for the Celtics in Summer League while hitting 37.5% of his limited three-point attempts.

A defensive standout who earned a spot on the Big East’s All-Defensive team as a senior, Mitchell never averaged more than 9.9 points per game in any of his four college seasons, so it remains to be seen how much he’ll contribute offensively at the NBA level.

Still, the Celtics have had success with similar types of players in recent years, including the recently extended Jordan Walsh and 2025 rookie Hugo Gonzalez, who had an impressive start to his NBA career last season.

One of the few remaining unsigned rookies, Mitchell was reported to be considering a return to St. John’s after a federal court ruling granted him and other seniors from his class a fifth year of eligibility. However, that preliminary injunction doesn’t apply to players who have signed professional contracts, so this two-way deal suggests Mitchell is committed to beginning his NBA career.

Mitchell is now the second two-way player under contract for the Celtics, alongside big man Amari Williams.

Houston picked up its 2026/27 team option on Davison in June, but his $2,584,539 salary remained entirely non-guaranteed even after that option was exercised. As a result, the Rockets won’t carry any dead money on their cap for Davison, whether or not he’s claimed on waivers.

Davison, the 53rd overall pick in the 2022 draft, spent his first three NBA seasons on two-way contracts with the Celtics but appeared in just 36 total regular season games for Boston, averaging 5.5 minutes per contest.

Davison saw a bit more action in 2025/26 on a two-way deal with the Rockets, but still played just 7.8 MPG in 28 outings, averaging 2.5 points, 1.3 assists, and 1.2 rebounds per game on .375/.250/.684 shooting. The 23-year-old was promoted to the standard roster prior to the postseason and saw garbage-time action in a pair of playoff games.

The former Alabama guard has made a far more significant impact in the G League, particularly in 2024/25, when he earned G League MVP honors with the Maine Celtics. In 45 total NBAGL appearances that season, he averaged 25.6 points, 7.7 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 34.6 minutes per game.

As a result of waiving Davison, the Rockets have moved below the luxury tax line by a mere $14,077, tweets Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron. It’s likely no coincidence that that’s the exact amount that a player on a prorated minimum-salary contract would earn for a single day in service.

In other words, even if Houston doesn’t shed any additional salary between now and the end of the regular season, the club would be able to sign a player to a minimum contract prior to the regular season finale without going into luxury tax territory.

The Rockets’ 14 players on standard contracts include 12 on fully guaranteed deals, one (Jae’Sean Tate) on a partially guaranteed contract, and one (Isaiah Crawford) who has a non-guaranteed salary. Crawford would earn a partial guarantee if he’s still under contract to open the regular season, but if a training camp invitee such as Oscar Tshiebwe or Julian Phillips outperforms him in the preseason, Houston could swap in one of those players for Crawford without altering its cap situation.

It was first reported nearly two weeks ago that Caldwell-Pope was being bought out by Memphis and would sign with Philadelphia after clearing waivers. The 33-year-old gave up $3,876,529 in his buyout agreement with the Grizzlies, which is the exact amount he’ll earn on his new one-year, minimum-salary deal with the 76ers. The team will carry a cap hit of $2,449,421.

A two-time NBA champion with the Lakers and Nuggets, Caldwell-Pope established himself as a reliable three-and-D option during his prime years, averaging 10.7 points per game and making 40.3% of his three-point attempts in 365 regular season outings during a five-season stretch from 2019-24.

That run earned Caldwell-Pope a three-year, $66MM deal from the Magic as a free agent in 2024, but he struggled during his lone season in Orlando before being traded to Memphis as part of the Desmond Bane blockbuster during the 2025 offseason. The 13-year veteran had another down year with the Grizzlies and was no longer considered part of the rebuilding club’s plans going forward, so Memphis was happy to negotiate a buyout that helped alleviate its roster crunch.

The Sixers are optimistic about Caldwell-Pope’s ability to bounce back in 2026/27 as a role player on a star-studded squad that includes fellow Rich Paul clients LeBron James, Tyrese Maxey, Justin Edwards, and Jabari Walker in addition to former MVP Joel Embiid, All-NBA second-teamer Jaylen Brown, and Rookie of the Year finalist VJ Edgecombe.

In order to fit Caldwell-Pope’s minimum-salary contract below their second-apron hard cap, the 76ers traded Johni Broome to the Clippers last week along with a second-round pick. Philadelphia now has roughly $1.8MM in breathing room below that hard cap, with 14 players on standard contracts.

While the Sixers can’t add a 15th man on a veteran’s minimum deal until December based on their current cap situation, it’s worth noting that Walker’s salary is only partially guaranteed for $250K. It sounds like the club would prefer to hang onto the veteran forward, but if an opportunity arises to add another coveted minimum-salary target, waiving Walker would create enough room below the first apron to make it happen.

Appearing this week on DNVR Sports’ Nuggets podcast, Stein said he has heard there was a mandate from management for Adelman to add an assistant with head coaching experience this offseason, which is what led the team to Joerger (Twitter video link).

July 27: The Nuggets will hire Dave Joerger to be the top assistant coach under head coach David Adelman, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (via Twitter).

Marc Stein reported a couple weeks ago that Denver was viewed as an “increasingly likely” landing spot for Joerger, who has been an NBA assistant or head coach since 2007. Joerger interviewed in June for the lead assistant position, as Stein previously reported.

Joerger also drew interest from Australia’s Melbourne United and the EuroLeague team Paris Basketball, but he decided to stay in the NBA in an assistant role rather than making the move overseas.

The 52-year-old spent several years as an assistant in Memphis before being promoted to the Grizzlies’ head coach in the 2013 offseason. He compiled a 147-99 record (.598 win-loss percentage) in three years as Memphis’ top coach, making the playoffs on each occasion, before being let go in May 2016.

Joerger was quickly hired by Sacramento and spent the next three seasons as the Kings’ head coach, going 98-148 (.398) before being dismissed in 2019. He has spent the past several years as an assistant in Philadelphia and — most recently — Milwaukee.

The Nuggets have been looking for an experienced No. 2 coach under Adelman, a longtime assistant who took over as Denver’s head coach when Michael Malone was fired near the end of the 2024/25 season. The Nuggets went 54-28 in ’25/26 and entered the playoffs as the third seed in the Western Conference, but were eliminated in the first round by Minnesota.

[RELATED: 2026/27 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]

Because those extensions won’t go into effect until the 2027/28 season and the NBA won’t finalize its ’27/28 salary cap until next summer, we can only ballpark what many of year’s maximum-salary contracts will look like based on the league’s latest cap estimates.

The NBA’s most recent projection for ’27/28 called for a cap of $174MM, which is the number we’ll use to project next season’s maximum salaries.

Listed below are the early maximum-salary projections for 2027/28. The first chart shows the maximum salaries for a player re-signing with his own team — a player’s previous club can offer five years instead of four, and 8% annual raises instead of 5% raises. The second chart shows the maximum salaries for a player signing with a new team.

A player’s maximum salary is generally determined by his years of NBA experience, so there’s a wide gap between potential earnings for younger and older players. Unless they qualify for a more lucrative extension by meeting certain performance criteria, players with no more than six years of NBA experience are limited to a starting salary worth up to 25% of the cap. For players with seven to nine years of experience, that number is 30%. For players with 10 or more years of experience, it’s 35%.

Here are the the early max-salary projections for 2027/28:

A player re-signing with his own team (8% annual raises, up to five years):

The “6 years or less” column here is what Victor Wembanyama‘s extension with the Spurs will look like. It will also be the maximum salary for any other player from Wembanyama’s draft class who signs a rookie scale extension this offseason or a free agent contract in 2027.

Wembanyama could have added “Rose rule” language to his extension, making him eligible for a starting salary worth 30% of the cap if he earns an All-NBA spot in 2027, but he opted not to do so. If his deal did include that language, the “7-9 years” column would have applied to him, so he could end up sacrificing more than $50MM over the life of his next deal.

The 30% max column will also apply to players who reach the free agent market next summer with between seven and nine years of NBA experience under their belts.

The third column (35%) will apply to a player who has 10+ years of NBA service and whose next contract could go into effect in 2027/28, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Karl-Anthony Towns. It’s also the column that applies to Donovan Mitchell‘s new extension with the Cavaliers, though Mitchell’s deal will cover four years rather than five and will therefore be worth a projected $272.8MM rather than $353.2MM.

A player signing with a new team (5% annual raises, up to four years):

If a player changes teams as a free agent, he doesn’t have access to a fifth year or 8% raises. So if someone like Brandon Miller or Amen Thompson were to sign with a new team next summer, his maximum contract would be a four-year deal projected to be worth a little over $187MM.

If a veteran free agent with between seven and nine years of NBA experience wants to change teams in 2027, he would be able to sign a four-year contract worth up to a projected $224.5MM.

A veteran with 10+ years of experience would be able to earn nearly $262MM across four years if he changes teams as a free agent in 2026. Although it happened with Paul George during the 2024 offseason, it has become quite rare for a player with that many years of experience to sign a four-year, maximum-salary contract with a new team, especially since many of those older stars are subject to the Over-38 rule.

While we spend more time talking about Exhibit 10 deals, most of those non-guaranteed training camp contracts also include an Exhibit 9 clause in addition to – or in place of – Exhibit 10 language.

An Exhibit 9 clause protects an NBA team in the event that a player suffers a significant injury in training camp.

If a player on a standard non-guaranteed contract without an Exhibit 9 clause suffered such an injury, his club would be required to pay him his salary until he’s healthy enough to play or until the end of that season, whichever comes first. For example, a player on a non-guaranteed rookie minimum deal who sustained a season-ending ACL tear would be owed his full $1,357,763 salary.

If the injured player’s contract includes Exhibit 9 language, however, his team could waive him and only be on the hook for a one-time payment of $15K. That amount increased from $6K when the NBA and NBPA completed its latest Collective Bargaining Agreement.

An Exhibit 9 deal, which is non-guaranteed and doesn’t count against the salary cap until the start of the regular season, can only be a one-year, minimum-salary contract. A team can carry up to six players on Exhibit 9 deals, but can’t sign a player to such a contract unless it has at least 14 players already under contract (not including two-way deals).

In most cases, if a team plans to have a player on a non-guaranteed contract participate in training camp and/or the preseason, his contract will include an Exhibit 9 clause in order to limit the club’s liability.

If a player signs a contract that includes Exhibit 10 language but not an Exhibit 9 clause, it’s usually a signal that he’s just being added for G League rights/bonus purposes and won’t actually be participating in training camp with his team. Conversely, an Exhibit 9 contract that doesn’t include Exhibit 10 language suggests the player will probably be taking part in camp but may not be a candidate to join his team’s G League affiliate if he’s waived.

So far this offseason, eight players have signed Exhibit 10 contracts, and all eight of those deals include an Exhibit 9 clause as well. Meanwhile, four players – including three Pelicans (Christian Koloko, Kobe Bufkin, and Caleb Houstan) – have signed Exhibit 9 contracts that do not feature Exhibit 10 language.

An Exhibit 9 contract that also includes Exhibit 10 language can be converted into a two-way deal. In that scenario, the Exhibit 9 clause would become null and void, so the team would no longer have injury protection.

In the event that a player with Exhibit 9 language in his contract makes his team’s regular season roster, his deal would be converted to a standard non-guaranteed contract. The Exhibit 9 protection wouldn’t carry over into the regular season.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this article were published in 2014, 2023, and 2025.

“What an opportunity that is,” Brown said. “Like, obviously, everybody (is) gonna say whatever they want to say, and it’s gonna be a bunch of media this whole entire season. But, for me, what an opportunity (it) is to learn. I love learning, so to have the opportunity to learn from one of, if not the greatest player of all time.”

Brown also said on the live stream that being traded from Boston to Philadelphia has him feeling more motivated than ever to win, adding that he has lost some weight this summer in anticipation of doing more running in transition alongside his new teammates.

“Just to be a little bit more fast and nimble,” Brown said. “I gotta keep up with (Tyrese) Maxey and (VJ) Edgecombe and LeBron this year, so I did lose about seven pounds. I feel great. I’m jumping higher, running faster.”

We have more from around the Atlantic:

• Moritz Wagner‘s new two-year contract with the Nets, originally reported to be worth $19MM, ended up coming in a little lower than that, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac, who tweets that Wagner will earn exactly $9MM in 2026/27, with a second-year mutual option worth $9.45MM. In total, the deal is worth $18.45MM, leaving Brooklyn with about $4.9MM in remaining cap room.
• Confirming that the pending divorce between Nets owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai won’t impact the team’s basketball or business operations in any way, Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required) takes a closer look at the ownership situation in Brooklyn. A spokesperson for Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, the holding company that controls the Nets and the WNBA’s New York Liberty, tells Lewis that the Tsais – who have previously referred to the Nets as a “family business” – plan to eventually involve their children in the management of the franchise.
• The two-year, minimum-salary contract that Alijah Martin signed with the Raptors last month is fully guaranteed in year one and includes a $500K partial guarantee in year two, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. Martin will receive his full $2.57MM salary for 2027/28 if he remains under contract through July 1, 2027.

With the exception of the 2020/21 NBA league year, which started later than usual due to COVID, this season will have the latest trade deadline since 2016/17. That was the last year in which the deadline fell during the Thursday after the All-Star Game instead of two Thursdays before it.

The Feb. 11 deadline is worth highlighting at this time due to how it will affect players who sign veteran contract extensions for the rest of the 2026/27 league year. When a player signs a veteran extension, he may become ineligible to be traded for six months if his new deal meets certain criteria.

That means any player who signs a veteran extension between now and next Tuesday (August 11) will be trade-eligible at this season’s deadline, regardless of whether or not the six-month restriction applies to him. But any player who signs a veteran extension after next Tuesday will be ineligible to be traded this season if his new deal meets any of the following criteria:

• His current contract and new extension exceed four years in total.
• His starting salary on the extension is worth more than 120% of the final-year salary on his current deal (or 120% of the NBA’s estimated average salary, for a player earning below the average).
• His salary increases or decreases by an amount greater than 5% between the first and second years of the extension (or in any subsequent seasons).
• His current contract is renegotiated as part of the extension.

Celtics big man Neemias Queta is an example of a recently extended player who meets one or more of these criteria. He’s now under contract for five years in total and will get 8% annual raises on his new contract with Boston. That means Queta is ineligible to be traded for six months, but because his deal was finalized on July 6, his trade restrictions will lift on January 6, well before this season’s deadline.

This six-month restriction doesn’t apply to players who sign rookie scale extensions. They can be traded immediately, though the poison pill provision might make it difficult to do so.

Players who sign veteran extensions that don’t meet any of the criteria above are also eligible to be traded immediately. Another Celtic, forward Jordan Walsh, is one player who falls into this category. The three-year extension he signed last month resulted in him being under contract for four years in total; additionally, his new deal starts below the NBA’s estimated average salary and features 5% annual raises. As a result, no trade restrictions currently apply to Walsh.

November 11 is another date worth keeping in mind now that the trade deadline for 2027 is officially set. A free agent who signs with an NBA team after Nov. 11 won’t become trade-eligible this season, since players who sign free agent contracts can’t be dealt for at least three months.

That shouldn’t be a concern for top remaining free agents like Jalen Duren, James Harden, Peyton Watson, Jonathan Kuminga, and DeMar DeRozan, each of whom figures to finalize a new contract well before the regular season begins in October.