The 2015/16 regular season ends in little more than a week, so the playoffs and the offseason are fast approaching. With just a few dates still to come on our list of Key 2015/16 Dates, we’ll look ahead to what’s next. The 2016 offseason figures to be among the most entertaining in years, with Kevin Durant poised to hit the open market for the first time and teams across the league flush with cash thanks to a salary cap expected to rise to between $90MM and $95MM.
Some specific contractual deadlines and other dates pertaining to relatively obscure collective bargaining agreement clauses aren’t represented below, but the idea here is to provide a digest of the days likely to have relevance to most teams and players. So, with that in mind, here’s a glance at the important deadlines and events that will influence player movement for the next several months across the league, right up until the start of training camps next fall:
April 13th — Last day of the regular season; luxury tax penalties calculated based on payroll as of this day.
April 15th — Playoff rosters set (2pm Central)
April 16th — Playoffs begin
April 24th — Deadline for early entrants to declare for draft (10:59pm Central)
May 11th-15th — Draft combine
May 17th — Draft lottery
May 25th — Last day for early entrants to withdraw from draft and retain their NCAA eligibility
June 13th — Deadline for early entrants to withdraw from draft (4pm Central)
June 23rd — Draft
June 24th — Last day for pending restricted free agents to exercise player options
June 29th — Last day for decisions on player, team and early termination options, unless individual contracts specify otherwise (see list of contracts that specify otherwise).
June 30th — Last official day of 2015/16 season; last day for teams to make qualifying offers to players eligible for restricted free agency.
July 1st — Official start of 2016/17 season; July moratorium begins.
July 6th — Last day of July moratorium
July 7th — Moratorium over; teams can begin signing players and making trades.
July 15th — Last day for teams to issue required tenders to unsigned first-round picks; those players become free agents July 16th if not tendered.
July 23th — Last day for teams to unilaterally withdraw qualifying offers to restricted free agents
August 31st — Last day teams may waive players and apply the stretch provision to their 2016/17 salaries.
September 5th — Last day for teams to issue required tenders to unsigned first-round picks; those players become free agents September 6th if not tendered.
Late September (specific dates TBA) — Training camps open
Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and NBA.com were used in the creation of this post.