The 2019 NBA trade deadline is now behind us, but it’s not the last notable date on the 2018/19 regular season calendar.
Here are a few more dates and deadlines to keep an eye out for over the next couple months:
February 28
- Last day for contract renegotiations
Players eligible for veteran contract extensions can continue to negotiate those deals through the rest of the league year. However, if a player wants to renegotiate his contract to receive a raise as part of an extension, as Robert Covington did last season, it must happen by the end of this month.
In order to renegotiate a contract, a team must have cap room. The only club with a path to cap room at this point is Dallas — the Mavericks could open up space by renouncing various exceptions, including their $21MM+ traded player exception. That’s unlikely to happen though, especially since their only extension-eligible players are J.J. Barea, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Dwight Powell.
March 1
- Last day a player can be waived by one team and remain eligible to appear in the postseason for another team.
This rule is often the source of confusion. A player who is released by a team doesn’t have to sign with a new team in order to be playoff-eligible this spring. He simply has to be waived by his team before the end of the day on March 1.
As long as he’s no longer under contract by 11:59 pm ET on March 1, a player could theoretically wait until the last day of the regular season to sign with a new club and still retain his postseason eligibility. But if he’s cut on March 2 instead, he loses that postseason eligibility.
March 11
- Last day to use a disabled player exception.
The Wizards were the only team with a sizeable disabled player exception on hand this season, and they used theirs to acquire Wesley Johnson from the Pelicans last week. That leaves the Mavericks and Grizzlies as the only clubs with DPEs left for 2018/19.
Those exceptions are both modest — Dallas’ is worth $1,855,425 and Memphis’ is worth $689,121. I wouldn’t expect either one to be used, since neither club is a contender. Plus, the Grizzlies just locked up Bruno Caboclo and their proximity to the luxury tax line will make them wary of adding anyone else for the rest of the season.
April 10
- Last day of the regular season.
- Last day players can sign contracts for 2018/19.
- Last day two-way contracts can be converted to standard NBA contracts.
- Luxury tax penalties calculated based on payroll as of this day.
While we typically don’t see a flurry of last-minute activity on April 10, teams around the NBA figure to be active leading up to this date.
Playoff clubs will typically make sure their rosters are fully stocked for the postseason. Even a team with tax concerns that has avoided carrying a full 15-man roster all season may consider filling that 15th spot on the last day of the season, since the prorated minimum-salary cap hit would be less than $10K and the accompanying tax penalty would be very modest.
Meanwhile, lottery-bound teams will often fill their rosters by taking a flier on a prospect or two, signing them to contracts that include little to no guaranteed money for 2019/20. That way, they can hang onto them for next season if they want, or cut bait during the offseason without any real impact to their cap for next season.
April 12
- Playoff rosters set (2:00pm CT).
The NBA postseason gets underway on April 13 this season, so the 16 teams in the playoffs will have to make sure their rosters are set a day before that.