Hoops Rumors Originals

As we explain in our glossary entry on veteran contract extensions, rookie scale extensions have historically been the most common form of contract extension in the NBA. However, the league’s latest Collective Bargaining Agreement loosened the rules on eligibility for veteran extensions and made them more financially advantageous, especially for players who don’t expect mega-deals.

As a result, we’ve seen a substantial bump in veteran contract extensions in recent seasons. During the 2021/22 league year, 21 players signed them, and that total jumped to 23 players in 2022/23. Many more have already followed suit in ’23/24 and others will join that list before June 30, 2024.

[RELATED: 2023/24 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]

Certain extension-eligible players, such as OG Anunoby, may prefer to wait until free agency to sign a new contract, since the biggest raise Anunoby can receive on an extension would be far less than the maximum contract he’d be eligible to earn on the open market.

The maximum starting salary a player like Anunoby can receive in a veteran extension is up to 140% of his current salary. A player on a more modest contract can receive a maximum starting salary worth up to 140% of the NBA’s estimated average salary.

For this season, 140% of the estimated average salary would work out to a $16,741,200 salary in the first year of a contract extension. A player who signs an extension that fits that bill could get up to four years and approximately $75MM. Zach Collins is an example of a player who has already signed this type of veteran extension, though his deal was for two years instead of the maximum four.

Now that the regular season is underway, the group of veterans eligible for contract extensions has shrunk, since players with more than one year left on their contracts aren’t permitted to sign an in-season extension. But there are still a number of veterans in the final year of their respective contracts who remain eligible for extensions right up until the last day of the current league year (June 30).

Listed below are the players who meet the criteria for a veteran extension. Players who were recently traded can be extended, but they have to wait for six months after the trade to sign a contract longer than three total years (including the current season) with a raise exceeding 5%. If a player below is noted as having “limited” eligibility until a certain date, that’s why.

Once a player regains his full extension eligibility, he becomes eligible to sign an extension of up to five total years (including the current season) with a 40% first-year raise (or 40% of the estimated average salary).

Additionally, extension-eligible players with a player or team option for 2024/25 would have to eliminate that option year as part of an extension agreement in order to meet the necessary criteria.

Here’s the full list of veterans currently eligible for contract extensions:

Atlanta Hawks

• None

Boston Celtics

• Xavier Tillman
  • Limited eligibility.

Brooklyn Nets

• None

Charlotte Hornets

• JT Thor

Chicago Bulls

• DeMar DeRozan

Cleveland Cavaliers

• None

Dallas Mavericks

• None

Denver Nuggets

• None

Detroit Pistons

• Evan Fournier

Golden State Warriors

• Klay Thompson

Houston Rockets

• None

Indiana Pacers

• Doug McDermott
  • Limited eligibility.
• Pascal Siakam
  • Limited eligibility.

Los Angeles Clippers

• Brandon Boston Jr.
• Paul George

Los Angeles Lakers

• None

Memphis Grizzlies

• Luke Kennard

Miami Heat

• Haywood Highsmith

Milwaukee Bucks

• None

Minnesota Timberwolves

• Jordan McLaughlin
• Monte Morris
  • Limited eligibility.

New Orleans Pelicans

• Naji Marshall
• Jonas Valanciunas

New York Knicks

• OG Anunoby
  • Limited eligibility until June 30.
• Alec Burks
  • Limited eligibility.

Oklahoma City Thunder

• Gordon Hayward
  • Limited eligibility.
• Aaron Wiggins

Orlando Magic

• Markelle Fultz

Philadelphia 76ers

• Robert Covington
• Tobias Harris
• Buddy Hield
  • Limited eligibility.
• Kenyon Martin Jr.
• De’Anthony Melton

Phoenix Suns

• Royce O’Neale
  • Limited eligibility.

Portland Trail Blazers

• None

Sacramento Kings

• None

San Antonio Spurs

• Cedi Osman

Toronto Raptors

• Gary Trent Jr.

Utah Jazz

• Talen Horton-Tucker

Washington Wizards

• None

Waiver claims are something of a rarity in the NBA. In order to claim a player off waivers, a team generally must be able to fit the player’s entire salary into cap room, a traded player exception, or a disabled player exception.

Given those limitations, the players most frequently claimed on waivers are those on minimum-salary deals, since any club is eligible to place a claim on those players using the minimum salary exception.

Even then though, there are some caveats — the minimum salary exception can only be used to sign players for up to two years, so the same rules apply to waiver claims. If a player signed a three-year, minimum salary contract, he can’t be claimed using the minimum salary exception, even if he’s in the final year of his deal.

Taking into account all the rules that reduce the odds of a waiver claim – not to mention the limited roster spots available for NBA teams – it makes sense that nearly all of the players who get released ultimately clear waivers. The 2021/22 and ’22/23 league years each featured just six waiver claims, for instance.

Despite how infrequent they are, we still want to track all the waiver claims that take place during the 2023/24 league year, since you never know which claim may end up being crucial. Last season, for instance, the Spurs claimed Julian Champagnie and Sandro Mamukelashvili off waivers — both players eventually re-signed with the team as free agents in the summer and remain on San Antonio’s roster this fall.

We’ll track this year’s waiver claims in the space below, updating the list throughout the season to include the latest moves. Here’s the list:

• Trail Blazers claim Ish Wainright from Suns (October 21) (story)
  • The victim of a roster crunch in Phoenix, Wainright was waived by the Suns before the regular season as the team trimmed its roster from 17 players on standard contracts to 15. Portland was willing to take a flier on Wainright, whose minimum-salary deal won’t become guaranteed until January. That timeline gives the Blazers the flexibility to evaluate the forward for a couple months before deciding whether to lock in his full-season cap hit.
• Pelicans claim Matt Ryan from Timberwolves (October 22) (story)
  • A restricted free agent this summer, Ryan re-signed with Minnesota on a new two-way contract, but the Timberwolves decided to convert Daishen Nix to a two-way deal before the season began, cutting Ryan to make room. The Pelicans, whose roster was hit hard by preseason injuries, had an open two-way contract slot and viewed the third-year sharpshooter as the sort of NBA-ready player who could step into a rotation role immediately, so they decided to claim his two-way contract off waivers.
• Suns claim Theo Maledon from Hornets (December 17) (story)
  • The Suns were the only NBA team to carry just a pair of two-way players – instead of three – for the first seven-plus weeks of the regular season. That gave them the flexibility to pounce when someone they liked hit the waiver wire — they placed a claim on Maledon after was cut by a Charlotte team seeking more frontcourt help. The timing worked out well for the Suns, who had just lost Bradley Beal to an ankle sprain and added Maledon to fortify their backcourt depth chart.

If you enjoy Hoops Rumors on your smartphone or tablet, be sure to check out our free Trade Rumors app!

Trade Rumors, available for iOS and Android, is the best way to consume our content on a mobile device. Here’s what it delivers, all for free:

• All the articles from Hoops Rumors, MLB Trade Rumors, Pro Football Rumors, and Pro Hockey Rumors in an easy-to-navigate, eye-catching format. Swipe through stories to quickly consume all the news and rumors from our four sites. Not into all four sports? No problem – any sport can be easily removed.
• Customize what you see. You can create feeds for any team or player across any of our sites.
• Notifications. For any team or player, you can set up push notifications to ensure you always get breaking news instantly. Notifications can also be set up at the sport level.
• Commenting. You can read and contribute comments on the app seamlessly.
• Customer service. If you find a bug, we’ll fix it. If you have a feature request, we’ll consider it. The app is continually evolving and improving.
• Did we mention Trade Rumors is a free app? What do you have to lose? Download it now!

In a pair of previous articles, we took a closer look at the trade restrictions placed on two groups of players who signed free agent contracts this past offseason. The smaller of the two groups featured players who can’t be traded by their current teams until January 15, having re-signed on contracts that met a set of specific criteria. The other offseason signees we examined aren’t eligible to be traded until December 15.

In addition to those two groups, there are a few other subsets of players who face certain trade restrictions this season. They either can’t be traded until a certain date, can’t be traded in certain packages, or can’t be traded at all prior to February’s deadline.

Listed below are the players affected by these trade restrictions. This list, which we’ll continue to update throughout the season as needed, can be found on our desktop sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or in our mobile menu under “Features.”

Players who recently signed as free agents or had their two-way contracts converted:

A player who signs a free agent contract typically becomes trade-eligible either three months after he signs or on December 15, whichever comes later. That means a player who signs on September 1 would become trade-eligible on Dec. 15, but one who signs on Sept. 22 wouldn’t be eligible to be dealt until Dec. 22.

Similarly, players who have two-way pacts converted to standard contracts can’t be dealt for three months after that happens.

Here are the affected players, who signed free agent contracts or were converted from two-way deals after Sept. 15, along with the dates their trade restrictions lift. Players marked with an asterisk (*) have the ability to veto trades:

December 16:

• Markieff Morris (Mavericks) *

December 19:

• Boban Marjanovic (Rockets)

December 25:

• Lamar Stevens (Celtics)

December 26:

• Kelly Oubre (Sixers)

January 1:

• Cameron Payne (Bucks)

January 4:

• Reggie Bullock (Rockets)

January 21:

• Dru Smith (Heat)

January 24:

• Ish Smith (Hornets)

February 8:

• Kevin Knox (Pistons)

Players who sign free agent contracts or have their two-way deals converted to standard contracts after November 8 this season won’t become trade-eligible prior to the 2024 trade deadline, which falls on February 8. That restriction applies to the following players, listed in alphabetical order:

• Joshua Primo (Clippers)
• Daniel Theis (Clippers)
• Vince Williams (Grizzlies)

Players who recently signed veteran contract extensions:

A player who signs a veteran contract extension can’t be dealt for six months if his new deal includes a raise greater than 5% and/or puts him under contract for more than three total years (including his current contract). An extension that meets either of those criteria would exceed the NBA’s extend-and-trade limits.

A player can sign a veteran extension and remain trade-eligible as long as his new deal doesn’t include a raise of more than 5% and doesn’t lock him up for more than three total seasons. Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis, for instance, remained eligible to be traded after signing a two-year extension that featured a pay cut in the first year and a 5% raise in the second.

Here are the players whose recent veteran extensions exceed the extend-and-trade limits, along with the dates their trade restrictions lift:

December 27:

• Naz Reid (Timberwolves)

December 28:

• Nikola Vucevic (Bulls)

December 29:

• Harrison Barnes (Kings)

January 6:

• Domantas Sabonis (Kings)

January 7:

• Jordan Clarkson (Jazz)

January 9:

• Dejounte Murray (Hawks)

February 6:

• Anthony Davis (Lakers)

Ineligible to be traded before this season’s February 8 deadline:

• Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
• Zach Collins (Spurs)
• Kawhi Leonard (Clippers)
• Josh Hart (Knicks)
• Miles McBride (Knicks)
• Jarred Vanderbilt (Lakers)

Additionally, when a player signs a super-max contract extension, he becomes ineligible to be traded for one full year.

That means Celtics wing Jaylen Brown won’t become trade-eligible prior to the 2024 deadline despite signing his extension in July. Brown is the only player who signed a super-max (designated veteran) contract this summer.

Players who were recently traded:

Players who were recently traded can be flipped again immediately. However, unless they were acquired via cap room, they can’t be traded again immediately in a deal that aggregates their salary with another player’s for matching purposes.

For instance, after acquiring Marcus Morris from the Clippers on November 1, the Sixers could turn around and trade Morris and his $17.1MM salary right away for another player earning about the same amount. But if Philadelphia wants to package Morris and, say, Robert Covington ($11.7MM) for salary-matching purposes in a deal for a big-money player, the team would have to wait two months to do so.

There are a total of five trades that currently fall within the aggregation restriction window. Here are the dates when the players involved in those deals can once again have their salaries aggregated in a second trade:

November 27:

• Damian Lillard (Bucks)
• Deandre Ayton (Trail Blazers)
• Toumani Camara (Trail Blazers)
• Grayson Allen (Suns)
• Nassir Little (Suns)
• Jusuf Nurkic (Suns)

December 1:

• Jrue Holiday (Celtics)
• Malcolm Brogdon (Trail Blazers)
• Robert Williams (Trail Blazers)

December 17:

• Victor Oladipo (Rockets)

January 1:

• James Harden (Clippers)
• P.J. Tucker (Clippers)
• Nicolas Batum (Sixers)
• Robert Covington (Sixers)
• Kenyon Martin Jr. (Sixers)
• Marcus Morris (Sixers)
• Filip Petrusev (Kings)

Any player who is traded after December 8 (without being acquired via cap room) won’t be eligible to be flipped before the trade deadline in a second deal that aggregates his salary with another player’s.

Note: Only players on standard, full-season contracts are listed on this page. Players who sign 10-day contracts can’t be traded. Players who sign two-way deals can’t be traded for up to 30 days after signing.

As we did with 2023’s offseason trades and the in-season swaps from 2022/23, we’ll be keeping track of all the NBA trades completed this season, updating this article with each transaction. This post can be found anytime throughout the season on our desktop sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or in our mobile menu under “Features.”

Trades are listed here in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top. So, if a player has been dealt multiple times, the first team listed as having acquired him is the one that ended up with him. Trades listed in italics have been agreed upon but are not yet official. For more details on each trade, click the date above it.

For more information on the specific conditions dictating if and when draft picks involved in these deals will actually change hands, be sure to check out RealGM.com’s breakdown of the details on traded picks.

Here’s the full list of the trades completed during the 2023/24 NBA season:

February 8

• Kings acquire Robin Lopez and cash.
• Bucks acquire the draft rights to Dimitrios Agravanis.

February 8

• Thunder acquire Gordon Hayward.
• Hornets acquire Davis Bertans, Vasilije Micic, Tre Mann, the Rockets’ 2024 second-round pick, the Sixers’ 2025 second-round pick, and cash ($1.5MM).

February 8

• Trail Blazers acquire Dalano Banton and cash ($3MM).
• Celtics acquire either the Trail Blazers’ or Pelicans’ 2027 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; top-55 protected).

February 8

• Celtics acquire Jaden Springer.
• Sixers acquire either the Bulls’ or the Pelicans’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).

February 8

• Clippers acquire the draft rights to Ismael Kamagate.
• Nuggets acquire cash ($2,686,253).

February 8

• Timberwolves acquire Monte Morris.
• Pistons acquire Shake Milton, Troy Brown, and the Timberwolves’ 2030 second-round pick.

February 8

• Bucks acquire Patrick Beverley.
• Sixers acquire Cameron Payne and the Bucks’ 2027 second-round pick.

February 8

• Suns acquire Royce O’Neale and David Roddy.
• Nets acquire Keita Bates-Diop, Jordan Goodwin, either the Pistons’, Bucks,’ or Magic’s 2026 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Suns), the Grizzlies’ 2028 second-round pick (from Suns), the Grizzlies’ 2029 second-round pick (from Suns), and the draft rights to Vanja Marinkovic (from Grizzlies).
• Grizzlies acquire Yuta Watanabe, Chimezie Metu, and the right to swap their own 2026 first-round pick for either the Suns’, Magic’s, or Wizards’ 2026 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).

February 8

• Mavericks acquire Daniel Gafford.
• Wizards acquire Richaun Holmes and either the Thunder’s, Clippers’, Rockets’ (top-four protected), or Jazz’s (top-10 protected) 2024 first-round pick (whichever is second-least favorable).

February 8

• Mavericks acquire P.J. Washington, the Celtics’ 2024 second-round pick, and either the Hornets’ or Clippers’ 2028 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
• Hornets acquire Grant Williams, Seth Curry, and the Mavericks’ 2027 first-round pick (top-two protected).

February 8

• Sixers acquire Buddy Hield.
• Pacers acquire Doug McDermott, Furkan Korkmaz, the Raptors’ 2024 second-round pick, the Trail Blazers’ 2029 second-round pick, and cash ($1.18MM; from Sixers).
• Spurs acquire Marcus Morris, the Clippers’ 2029 second-round pick, and cash (from Sixers).
• Note: The 2024 second-rounder technically has “most favorable” language, but there’s essentially no chance it won’t be Toronto’s pick.

February 8

• Pacers acquire Cory Joseph, the Hornets’ 2025 second-round pick (top-55 protected) and cash ($5.8MM)
• Warriors acquire the least favorable of the Pacers’ 2024 second-round picks.
• Note: In all likelihood, the 2024 pick will be the least favorable of the Bucks’ and Cavaliers’ second-rounders.

February 8

• Knicks acquire Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks.
• Pistons acquire Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, Quentin Grimes, Ryan Arcidiacono, the Knicks’ 2028 second-round pick, the Knicks’ 2029 second-round pick, and cash ($3MM).

February 8

• Raptors acquire Spencer Dinwiddie.
• Nets acquire Dennis Schröder and Thaddeus Young.

February 8

• Mavericks acquire either the Thunder’s, Clippers’, Rockets’ (top-four protected), or Jazz’s (top-10 protected) 2024 first-round pick (whichever is second-least favorable).
• Thunder acquire the right to swap first-round picks with the Mavericks in 2028.

February 8

• Raptors acquire Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji.
• Jazz acquire Otto Porter, Kira Lewis, and either the Thunder’s, Clippers’, Rockets’ (top-four protected), or Jazz’s (top-10 protected) 2024 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).

February 8

• Pistons acquire Danuel House, the Knicks’ 2024 second-round pick, and cash ($1,634,922).
  
• Sixers acquire the Pistons’ 2028 second-round pick (top-55 protected).

February 8

• Pistons acquire Simone Fontecchio.
• Jazz acquire Kevin Knox, either the Wizards’ or the Grizzlies’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable), the draft rights to Gabriele Procida., and cash ($766,095).

February 7

• Celtics acquire Xavier Tillman.
• Grizzlies acquire Lamar Stevens, the Hawks’ 2027 second-round pick, and the Mavericks’ 2030 second-round pick.

February 1

• Rockets acquire Steven Adams.
• Grizzlies acquire Victor Oladipo, the Thunder’s 2024 second-round pick, either the Nets’ 2024 second-round pick (55-58 protected) or the Warriors’ 2024 second-round pick (56-58 protected) (whichever is most favorable), and either the Rockets’ 2025 second-round pick or the Thunder’s 2025 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).

January 23

• Heat acquire Terry Rozier.
• Hornets acquire Kyle Lowry and the Heat’s 2027 first-round pick (top-14 protected).

January 17

• Pacers acquire Pascal Siakam.
• Raptors acquire Bruce Brown; Kira Lewis; Jordan Nwora; the Pacers’ 2024 first-round pick (top-three protected); either the Thunder’s, Clippers’, Rockets’ (top-four protected), or Jazz’s (top-10 protected) 2024 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable); and the Pacers’ 2026 first-round pick (top-four protected).

January 17

• Pacers acquire Kira Lewis and either the Pelicans’ or Bulls’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
• Pelicans acquire cash ($110K).

January 14

• Pistons acquire Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala.
• Wizards acquire Marvin Bagley III, Isaiah Livers, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 second-round pick.
  • Note: The 2025 second-round pick will be the least favorable of the following two picks:
    • The Pistons’ second-rounder
    • The more favorable of the Wizards’ and Warriors’ 2025 second-rounders.
  • Note: The 2026 second-round pick will be the least favorable of the following two picks:
    • The more favorable of the Timberwolves’ and Knicks’ second-rounders.
    • The more favorable of the Pelicans’ and Trail Blazers’ picks.

December 30

• Knicks acquire OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn.
• Raptors acquire RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and the Pistons’ 2024 second-round pick.

November 1

• Kings acquire Filip Petrusev and cash ($1,218,747).
• Clippers acquire the draft rights to Luka Mitrovic.

November 1

• Clippers acquire James Harden, P.J. Tucker, and Filip Petrusev.
• Sixers acquire Marcus Morris; Nicolas Batum; Robert Covington; Kenyon Martin Jr.; the Clippers’ 2028 first-round pick (unprotected); either the Rockets’ (top-four protected), Clippers’, or Thunder’s 2026 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Thunder); the right to swap their own 2029 first-round pick for the Clippers’ 2029 first-round pick (top-three protected); a 2024 second-round pick (details below); the Clippers’ 2029 second-round pick; and cash ($2MM; from Clippers).
  • Note: The 2024 second-round pick acquired by the Sixers will be either the Raptors’, Pacers’, Jazz’s, or Cavaliers’ pick (whichever is most favorable). If either the Jazz’s or Cavaliers’ pick is the most favorable, Philadelphia would instead receive the second-most favorable of the four.
• Thunder acquire the right to swap either their own 2027 first-round pick or the Nuggets’ 2027 first-round pick (top-five protected) for the Clippers’ 2027 first-round pick (unprotected) and cash ($1.1MM; from Clippers).