The NBA’s freeze on transactions, which has now been active for nearly a month due to the coronavirus pandemic, will continue for the foreseeable future, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the league and the players’ union have agreed to extend the moratorium indefinitely.
The moratorium prevents NBA teams from making any sort of roster move, including signings, trades, and the exercising of player or team options.
The league’s regular season had originally been scheduled to end on April 15, which also would have been the last day for teams to sign free agents to their 2019/20 rosters or promote two-way players. For example, April 15 would have been the last day for the Thunder to sign two-way player Luguentz Dort to a standard contract to make him playoff-eligible.
If the NBA is able to resume its ’19/20 season, there will almost certainly be a window when those transactions will be permitted again so that teams can prepare their rosters for an abridged postseason. It’s not clear how the league would handle that lost window if the season is canceled.
The NBA and the NBPA also figure to negotiate a new timeline for the player and team option decision deadlines and salary guarantee dates that will be delayed by the current moratorium and the indefinite suspension of the season. Depending on how the coming months play out, more significant dates like the draft and the start of the free agent period could also be pushed back.
Just turn Trades back on.