With the 2023/24 NBA regular season in the books, nearly half of the league’s teams have shifted their focus to the offseason and others will soon follow suit.
That means it’s time to retire our list of the NBA’s key in-season dates and deadlines for the ’23/24 campaign in favor of an updated offseason calendar of the most important dates facing teams and players in the coming months.
In the space below, you’ll find a breakdown of many of the NBA’s important dates and deadlines for the next few months, right up until training camps open for the 2024/25 season.
April 27
- Deadline for early entrants to declare for the NBA draft (10:59 pm CT).
- Note: For more information on draft-related dates and deadlines, check out our full breakdown.
May 11-12
- NBA G League Elite Camp for draft prospects.
May 12
- NBA draft lottery.
May 12-19
- NBA draft combine.
May 29
- Last day for early entrants to withdraw from the NBA draft and retain their NCAA eligibility (10:59 pm CT).
June 6
- NBA Finals begin.
June 16
- Deadline for all early entrants (including international players) to withdraw from the NBA draft (4:00 pm CT).
June 23
- Latest possible end date for NBA Finals.
TBD (first day after NBA Finals)
- Teams can begin negotiating with their own free agents.
June 26
- Day one of NBA draft (first round)
June 27
- Day two of NBA draft (second round)
June 29
- Last day for decisions on player, team, and early termination options
- Note: Certain contracts will require earlier decisions.
- Last day for teams to make qualifying offers to players eligible for restricted free agency.
June 30
- Last official day of the 2023/24 NBA league year.
- Last day for players eligible for veteran extensions in 2023/24 to sign them.
- Teams can begin negotiating with outside free agents (5:00 pm CT).
July 1
- Official start of the 2024/25 NBA league year.
- Moratorium period begins.
- Restricted free agents can sign an offer sheet.
- Teams can begin signing players to one- or two-year minimum-salary contracts.
- Teams can begin signing players to two-way contracts.
- Teams can begin signing first-round picks to rookie scale contracts.
- Teams can begin signing second-round picks using the second-round pick exception.
- Teams can begin exercising the third- or fourth-year team options for 2025/26 on rookie scale contracts.
July 6
- Moratorium period ends (11:01 am CT).
- Teams can begin officially signing players, extending players, and completing trades (11:01 am CT).
- The 24-hour period for matching an RFA offer sheet signed during the moratorium begins (11:01 am CT).
July 12-22
- Las Vegas Summer League.
July 13
- Last day for teams to unilaterally withdraw qualifying offers to restricted free agents.
July 27
- Start of 2024 Olympics in Paris.
July 31
- Players signed using the second-round pick exception begin to count against a team’s cap.
August 5
- Last day for teams to issue required tenders to unsigned second-round picks.
August 10
- Gold and bronze medal games at the Paris Olympics.
August 29
- Last day for teams to waive players and apply the stretch provision to their 2024/25 salaries.
September 27
- Training camps open for teams playing exhibition games outside North America.
October 1
- Training camps open for the remaining teams.
October 19
- Last day for players on fully non-guaranteed contracts to be waived and not count at all against a team’s 2024/25 cap. They must clear waivers before the first day of the regular season.
October 21
- Last day of the 2024 offseason.
- Roster limits decrease from 21 players to 18 (4:00 pm CT). Teams will be limited to carrying 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals as of this deadline.
- Last day for teams to sign a player to a rookie scale extension (5:00 pm CT).
- Last day for teams to sign an extension-eligible veteran player with multiple seasons left on his contract to an extension. An extension-eligible veteran player on an expiring deal can still be extended after October 21.
- Last day for teams to complete sign-and-trade deals.
- Last day for teams to convert an Exhibit 10 contract into a two-way contract.
October 22
- 2024/25 regular season begins.
Information from NBA.com and ESPN’s Bobby Marks was used in the creation of this post.