What Each NBA Team Can, Can’t Do On The Trade Market

The NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement went into effect at the start of the 2023/24 season, but not all of the new rules and restrictions in that agreement were implemented immediately. Many of them were introduced when the ’24/25 league year began, which means that this is the first season the new CBA is really showing its teeth.

With so many new rules in place, it’s worth taking a closer look at exactly how each team will be affected as they pursue trades this season. In the space below, we’re examining what every club can and can’t do on the trade market ahead of the February 6 deadline.

Let’s dive in…

Teams operating above the second tax apron:

• Phoenix Suns
• Minnesota Timberwolves
• Boston Celtics
• Milwaukee Bucks

Teams whose total salaries exceed the second tax apron of $188,931,000 don’t face any sort of hard cap, but their trade options are limited. Here are the restrictions they face:

❌ Not permitted to aggregate two or more player salaries for matching purposes.
❌ Not permitted to use an outgoing player’s salary for matching purposes to take back more than 100% of his salary.
❌ Not permitted to use a traded player exception that was generated during the 2023/24 regular season.
❌ Not permitted to use a traded player exception that was generated using a signed-and-traded player.
❌ Not permitted to use the bi-annual exception or mid-level exception to acquire a player via trade.
❌ Not permitted to send out cash in a trade.

The first two rules here explain why, when we talk about the reported mutual interest between Jimmy Butler and the Suns, we say that Phoenix could only acquire Butler by trading Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, or Bradley Beal. The Suns can’t aggregate two or more players salaries to match Butler’s $48.8MM cap hit, and Durant, Booker, and Beal are the only three players on their roster whose salaries are higher than Butler’s.

The third and fourth rules listed here both apply to the Timberwolves. They created a $4MM trade exception at last season’s trade deadline when they sent out Troy Brown and generated an $8.78MM TPE during the summer when they signed-and-traded Kyle Anderson to Golden State. They’re not permitted to use either.

Here are a few things that second-apron teams can do on the trade market:

✅ Acquire a player using the minimum salary exception.
✅ Acquire a player using a traded player exception created during the 2024 offseason or earlier in the 2024/25 regular season (as long as it wasn’t created using a signed-and-traded player).
✅ Send out multiple players in the same trade (as long as their salaries aren’t aggregated).
✅ Trade draft picks up to seven years out (2031).

The rule prohibiting second-apron teams from taking back more salary than they send out only applies when the outgoing player salary is being used for matching purposes. That means any club is allowed to acquire a player who is on a one- or two-year minimum-salary contract using the minimum salary exception.

The minimum salary exception allowance can be used on its own or as part of a larger deal. For instance, if the Suns were to send Beal ($50.2MM) to Miami in exchange for Butler ($48.8MM) and Alec Burks (who is on a minimum-salary contract with a cap hit of $2.1MM), they’d technically be taking back more total salary than they’re sending out. However, because only Beal’s salary would be used to match Butler’s, with Burks acquired “separately” using the minimum salary exception, the swap would be legal.

Circling back to the Timberwolves’ traded player exceptions, while we’ve already mentioned a couple trade exceptions that they can’t use, they do have TPEs worth $2.5MM and $4.7MM created in this year’s Wendell Moore and Karl-Anthony Towns deals that they can use, since they were created since the offseason began in non-sign-and-trade moves.

The fourth item here serves as a reminder that the rule freezing a second-apron team’s first-round draft pick seven years out won’t go into effect until the 2025 offseason. So these teams are still permitted to trade their 2031 first-rounders this season — the Wolves have already done so, but the other three haven’t.

Teams operating between the first and second aprons:

• Los Angeles Lakers
• New York Knicks *
• Miami Heat
• Denver Nuggets *
• Philadelphia 76ers

(* Teams marked with an asterisk are hard-capped at the second apron.)

In addition to doing everything that second-apron teams can do on the trade market, teams operating above the first apron ($178,814,000) and below the second apron can also do the following:

✅ Aggregate two or more player salaries for matching purposes.
✅ Send out cash in a trade.
✅ Use a traded player exception that was generated using a signed-and-traded player.

However, the following restrictions remain in place for teams operating over the first apron:

❌ Not permitted to use an outgoing player’s salary (or two or more aggregated player salaries) for matching purposes to take back more than 100% of that salary.
❌ Not permitted to use a traded player exception that was generated during the 2023/24 regular season.
❌ Not permitted to use the bi-annual exception or mid-level exception to acquire a player via trade.

It’s important to note that if a team aggregates salaries, sends out cash, or uses a TPE generated via a sign-and-trade, that club becomes hard-capped at the second apron for the remainder of the league year. That’s already the case for the Knicks, who aggregated salaries in both the Mikal Bridges and Towns blockbusters.

The Nuggets are also hard-capped at the second apron, though that was the result of a move in free agency, not on the trade market — they used the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Dario Saric.

While the other three teams in this group don’t currently face a hard cap, it’s something they’ll have to keep in mind as they navigate the trade market. For example, the Lakers are operating just $30K below the second apron, so if they aggregate salaries in a deal before the Feb. 6 deadline, they’ll face a second-apron hard cap for the rest of the season, which will significantly limit their ability to make additional moves (unless they shed some salary in the trade that hard-caps them).

Teams operating over the salary cap and below the first apron:

• Golden State Warriors *
• Dallas Mavericks *
• New Orleans Pelicans *
• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Los Angeles Clippers *
  — Luxury tax line —
• Indiana Pacers
• Atlanta Hawks *
• Brooklyn Nets *
• Sacramento Kings *
• Memphis Grizzlies *
• Portland Trail Blazers
• Chicago Bulls *
• Toronto Raptors *
• Washington Wizards *
• Houston Rockets *
• Oklahoma City Thunder *
• Charlotte Hornets *
• San Antonio Spurs
• Orlando Magic
• Utah Jazz *

(* Teams marked with an asterisk are hard-capped at the first apron.)

While these teams all technically fall into the same category, there are major differences between their respective situations. The Jazz, for instance, are narrowly above the salary cap and have more than $27MM breathing room below the luxury tax line, giving them significantly more flexibility than a team like the Hawks, who are hovering about $1.3MM below the tax line and $5.4MM from the first apron.

Those teams right below the tax, like the Pacers, Hawks, and Nets, will have to be careful about adding extra salary, since they’ll have no desire to become taxpayers. Teams right up against first-apron hard caps like the Warriors and Mavericks will also be limited in their ability to take on extra salary, even if they wouldn’t mind doing so.

Generally speaking, however, these are the actions that teams in this group are allowed to take on the trade market:

✅ Everything that first-apron teams are allowed to do.
✅ Use one or more outgoing salaries up to $7,500,000 to take back up to 200% of that salary (plus $250K) via matching.
✅ Use one or more outgoing salaries between $7,500,001 and $29,000,000 to take back up to that salary plus $7.5MM via matching.
✅ Use one or more outgoing salaries worth above $29,000,000 to take back up to 125% of that salary (plus $250K) via matching.
✅ Use a traded player exception that was generated within the past year (with a $250K allowance above the TPE amount).
✅ Use the bi-annual exception or mid-level exception to acquire a player via trade.

Again, a team’s ability to take advantage of each of these rules varies depending on that club’s specific position relative to the first apron.

For example, while these salary-matching rules suggest the Warriors would be permitted to take back up to nearly $33.8MM in return for Andrew Wiggins‘ outgoing salary (approximately $26.3MM), they’re only about $330K away from their first-apron hard cap, which they’re not allowed to exceed. So without a move that sheds salary, Golden State can’t take back more than about $26.6MM for Wiggins.

On the other hand, a team like the Jazz, with so much space to operate below the first apron, would have no problem taking back up to approximately $34.1MM in incoming salary in exchange for John Collins‘ $26.6MM outgoing amount.

Teams operating below the salary cap:

• Detroit Pistons

The Pistons, who are currently sitting about $14MM below the salary cap, are the only NBA team that still has cap room available.

Because they’re below the cap, the Pistons don’t have the mid-level exception, bi-annual exception, or any traded player exceptions available, so they can’t acquire players using any of those paths. However, they can do the following:

✅ Acquire incoming salary up to the salary cap ($140,588,000), plus $250K.
✅ Use the room exception to acquire a player via trade.

Although the Pistons only have about $14MM in room, they could acquire a player earning more than that amount if they send out a player as part of the transaction. For example, if they were to trade Tim Hardaway Jr., who has a cap hit of about $16.2MM, they could take back a player earning a little over $30MM, since the swap would still leave them at the salary cap cutoff.

However, Detroit isn’t permitted to combine its cap room and its room exception — cap space and the room exception operate separately, so the remaining room could be used to acquire a $14MM player and the room exception could be used to take on a player earning nearly $8MM, but they couldn’t be paired to acquire a player earning $22MM.