With the All-Star Game behind us, we’re preparing for the home stretch of the 2022/23 NBA season. Here are a few noteworthy dates and deadlines to keep an eye on before the playoffs begin in April.
February 28
- Last day for contract renegotiations.
A team with cap room can renegotiate a player’s current-year salary to give him a raise as part of a contract extension, as the Pacers did with Myles Turner last month. However, Turner was the only legitimate renegotiation candidate in the NBA in 2022/23. The Spurs still have a significant amount of cap room, but they don’t have any players who meet the renegotiation criteria (Tre Jones is extension-eligible, but not enough time has passed since he signed his current deal to make him eligible for a renegotiation).
March 1
- Last day a player can be waived by one team and remain eligible to appear in the postseason for another team.
- Last day for a restricted free agent to sign an offer sheet.
As we outline in our glossary entry on buyouts, a player doesn’t need to be signed by March 1 in order to retain his playoff-eligible — he simply can’t be waived after that date. A player who is waived on March 1 and signs with another team on April 8 would be playoff-eligible for his new team, but a player who is waived on March 2 and signs on March 5 wouldn’t be.
The restricted free agent deadline, meanwhile, typically comes and goes without fanfare because every RFA is usually off the market by the start of the regular season. This year, one restricted free agent, Miles Bridges remains unsigned due to his legal situation. I wouldn’t expect a rival team to pursue an offer sheet with Bridges in the coming week, but if it happens, it would have to get done by March 1. The Hornets would retain the ability to negotiate a contract with Bridges beyond that date.
March 10
- Last day to use a disabled player exception.
The Pistons ($5.28MM), Celtics ($3.24MM), and Raptors ($3MM) still have disabled player exceptions available that they could use to sign a player to a rest-of-season contract or to claim a player with an expiring contract off waivers. However, disabled player exceptions are used more frequently at the trade deadline than after it, especially with most of the most notable names on the buyout market already signed. The likeliest scenario is that these DPEs will expire without being used.
April 9
- Last day of the NBA regular season.
- Last day players can sign contracts for 2022/23.
- Last day two-way contracts can be converted to standard NBA contracts.
- Luxury tax penalties calculated based on payroll as of this day.
About half of the NBA’s teams currently have at least one open spot on their 15-man rosters. It’s safe to assume that most – if not all – of those clubs will fill those openings by April 9. Playoff teams will want to make sure they have as much veteran depth as possible, just to be safe, while several lottery teams will likely sign younger players to multiyear deals without guarantees beyond this season in order to get a longer look at them in the summer.
April 10
- Playoff rosters set (2:00pm CT).
April 11-14
- NBA play-in tournament.
April 15
- NBA playoffs begin.
While they wait for the play-in tournament to conclude, the top six teams in each conference will get a few days off between the regular season and the postseason, giving them some time to recharge before the playoffs begin.
Are the Pistons using their DPE to claim RJ Hampton?
They could, but I expect he’ll clear waivers and they’ll sign him as a free agent.
What about Zion return date? Slamajama zing dong. Go Pels