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Community Shootaround: Eastern Conference All-Star Voting

January 9th, 2022 at 8:17pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The 2022 NBA All-Star Game will take place on February 20 at the Cavaliers’ home arena, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Will a Cavalier or two make the cut for the first time since LeBron James headed West in 2018? Time will tell, but the odds look good. The chances of a Cav earning an Eastern Conference starting spot, however, look slim.

Online fan voting started on Christmas Day, and is set to wrap up on January 22 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The first results of fan voting were announced by the NBA on January 6.

Players are separated by conference in the voting process (though not in the games), and divvied up across the frontcourt and backcourt. Fan votes will be weighed at 50% of the total vote, with 25% allocated to player voting results and an additional 25% given to journalists. Head coaches will vote for the All-Star benches after starters are announced.

Today, we’ll take a look at the leaders in the clubhouse to earn an All-Star start in the Eastern Conference, in addition to making the case for a few other notable players deserving of a shot.

Nets forward Kevin Durant led all Eastern Conference players with 2,360,435 results in his favor after the initial tally. Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was nipping at his heels with a robust 2,145,835 fan votes of his own. Sixers center Joel Embiid received 1,236,060 fan votes. The top three frontcourt vote-getters (again, as determined by a split of fan, player, and media votes) will earn starter honors.

The selections of Durant, Antetkounmpo, and Embiid (all in the early running for MVP consideration) were largely expected. Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Heat forward Jimmy Butler were the only other frontcourt players to earn 500K or more fan votes.

While Butler is clearly enjoying an All-Star-level season, which would be his sixth overall, he has only appeared in 23 of a possible 40 games for the 25-15 Heat. Currently sidelined with an ankle injury, Butler is expected to return to the court soon, and, provided that he does, should be a lock to make the coaches’ picks for East reserves.

Tatum and Boston wing Jaylen Brown have each had productive individual seasons, but it has not translated to team success for the 19-21 Celtics, currently the tenth seed in the Eastern Conference. A team in danger of missing the play-in tournament seems unlikely to earn two All-Stars. Brown is listed in the backcourt for fan voting, while Tatum is in the frontcourt.

Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, who was a big part of the trade that netted Brooklyn superstar guard James Harden, has blossomed into an All-Star caliber talent with Cleveland this season. Allen and guard Darius Garland are the Cavaliers’ two All-Star candidates this season, though neither looks to have the votes to claw their way into the starter conversation. Allen was sixth in the first fan voting results for Eastern Conference frontcourt players with 168,019 votes. Garland ranked ninth among East guards (behind two much less-worthy candidates, whom we will discuss in a bit) with 119,399 votes. Rookie Cleveland power forward Evan Mobley, an early leader for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, will most likely not make the cut, though he has been a crucial part of the team’s incredible turnaround this season.

Other frontcourt players who have put up solid numbers on good teams in the conference include young Hornets forward Miles Bridges, enjoying a Most Improved Player-level season with an upstart Charlotte club. Hawks power forward John Collins also has a case, though the team’s middling record could limit Atlanta from getting more than one All-Star this year. Other candidates for All-Star consideration (though probably not worthy of starting) include a cadre of recent All-Stars, among them Pacers big man Domantas Sabonis, Raptors power forward Pascal Siakam (though he has missed 14 games so far), Knicks power forward Julius Randle, and Bulls center Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic has stabilized after a rough shooting start, and has improved on defense this season.

In the backcourt, the two current frontrunners to start are Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan (1,487,598 fan votes), enjoying a comeback season in Chicago at age 32, and Nets guard Harden (892,065 votes), who – despite having one of his worst seasons in years – remains one of the better guards in the NBA.

The selection of DeRozan here has stirred up a bit of controversy — not because of his merit, but because of his positional listing. The 6’6″ DeRozan is the Bulls’ starting small forward, and moonlights plenty as a small-ball power forward. When he last made an All-Star team, with the Raptors in 2018, DeRozan was a shooting guard, but he was unlocked in subsequent seasons at the three and four while with the Spurs. Regardless, DeRozan looks to be a lock, provided he stays relatively healthy for the rest of the voting window.

Hawks point guard Trae Young is right behind Harden with 862,878 fan votes, while Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine (776,043) and second-year Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball (422,247) round out the top five vote-getters among backcourt players. LaVine may not boast the late-game heroics or ball-handling ingenuity of his fellow Chicago swingman DeRozan, but he has put up terrific numbers as one of the undisputed two best players for the East’s best club as of this writing. Chicago boasts a 26-10 record.

Young, fresh off leading his Atlanta team to a surprising Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2021, is enjoying a great statistical season individually, but it has not translated to team success, in part because Young’s defense has been… apathetic at best. The Hawks are currently the No. 12 seed in the East with a 17-22 record. Ball has led Charlotte to a 21-19 record and the East’s eighth seed. Young, LaVine and Ball are all more deserving starters than Harden this season, though Harden remains worthy of a (bench) All-Star slot.

Insanely, Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, who has played in all of one game this season, is right behind Ball with 267,929 fan votes, while Knicks reserve point guard Derrick Rose, out for months following an ankle surgery and having put up fairly pedestrian numbers on a non-playoff team, has gotten 232,501 votes of his own. Neither player will get a shred of votes from players or journalists, and neither player has a chance of making the All-Star team, as a starter or reserve, this season.

Veteran Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet, who finished tenth during this initial window of fan voting, has emerged as perhaps the representative best player for a frisky Toronto club. Bucks point guard Jrue Holiday and Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal also seem worthy of All-Star berths, though they both finished outside the top 10 this year in fan voting and appear doomed to join the ranks of the reserves.

New Heat point guard Kyle Lowry has had a down scoring year but has been the steady hand guiding the ship for a terrific Miami club missing its best players, Butler and big man Bam Adebayo, for a significant portion of its season. Yes, sixth man Tyler Herro is averaging significantly more points than Lowry (20.6 PPG to 13.7 PPG), but their overall shooting percentages are fairly similar. Herro is connecting on 42.7% of his field goal looks to Lowry’s 42.2% shooting from the floor. Lowry, a six-time All-Star with the Raptors, has proven to be the better set-up man and defender by a long shot.

As of right now, this fan voter would slot Durant, Antetokounmpo and Embiid among his three starting frontcourt players, and put the two Bulls, DeRozan and LaVine, into the two starting backcourt spots.

We want to know what you think! Which players comprise your Eastern Conference All-Star starters? Are there any borderline starters you think could be determined based on their level of play over the ensuing month?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in!

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Recap Of 2021/22 Salary Guarantee Decisions

January 8th, 2022 at 9:45am CST by Luke Adams

Entering the new year on January 1, there were still 27 players who were signed to standard, full-season contracts but whose salaries for the 2021/22 campaign weren’t fully guaranteed.

The deadline for teams to waive those players and avoid having their full ’21/22 salaries become guaranteed was on Friday, January 7 at 4:00 p.m. CT. Although their salaries won’t technically become guaranteed until January 10, those players would still receive their full-season guarantees if they’re cut today or tomorrow, since they wouldn’t clear waivers until at least Monday.

Here’s a roundup of the decisions teams made with those 27 players:

Players who will have their salaries guaranteed:

Each player’s salary is noted here. His cap hit is identical to his salary unless otherwise indicated.

(*) cap hit of $1,669,178
(#) cap hit of $1,237,494
(^) cap hit of $1,016,856

All 19 of the players on non-guaranteed contracts who were retained are earning the minimum salary, so the financial impact of keeping them is relatively modest. Still, open roster spots are valuable at this time of year — at least a couple of these guys were fortunate not to be let go by a team prioritizing flexibility.

All of these decisions were reported in recent days with the exception of the Bulls keeping McKinnie. Since he played in last night’s game, he clearly wasn’t waived in time for the January 7 deadline, so we can safely assume Chicago is keeping him around.

Players who were waived before their salaries became guaranteed:

Each player’s cap hit is noted here. The team would no longer be on the hook for that cap charge if a player is claimed off waivers.

Of these eight players, only Deck was making more than the minimum salary. He would’ve earned $3,676,852 if he had survived the guarantee deadline, which is why his prorated cap hit is noticeably larger than the other players on this list, who were all earning the minimum.

Valentine and Oni were each traded before being waived, as the Lakers (who were set to acquire Valentine from Cleveland in the Rajon Rondo trade before the Knicks got involved) and Jazz avoided further increasing their projected tax bills by eating that dead money.

There were a handful of other players with non-guaranteed salaries who were waived earlier in the season. That group included Sam Dekker (Raptors), Georgios Kalaitzakis (Bucks), Alize Johnson (Bulls), and Brad Wanamaker (Pacers). Those moves didn’t go down to the wire like the others listed above, having occurred well in advance of the salary guarantee deadline.

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2021/22 In-Season NBA Trades

January 4th, 2022 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

As we did with 2021’s offseason trades and the in-season swaps from 2020/21, we’ll be keeping track of all the NBA trades completed this season, updating this post 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 2021/22 NBA season:

February 10

  • Celtics acquire Derrick White.
  • Spurs acquire Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, the Celtics’ 2022 first-round pick (top-four protected), and the right to swap 2028 first-round picks with the Celtics (top-one protected).

February 10

February 10

February 10

February 10

February 10

February 10

February 10

February 10

  • Raptors acquire Thaddeus Young, Drew Eubanks, and either the Pistons’ or Bulls’ 2022 second-round pick (whichever is more favorable).
  • Spurs acquire Goran Dragic and the Raptors’ 2022 first-round pick (top-14 protected).

February 10

  • Magic acquire Bol Bol, PJ Dozier, the Celtics’ 2028 second-round pick (top-45 protected), and cash.
  • Celtics acquire the Magic’s 2023 second-round pick (top-55 protected).

February 9

February 9

  • Thunder acquire KZ Okpala and amended terms of a first-round pick owed to them by the Heat.
  • Heat acquire either the Thunder’s, Mavericks’, or Sixers’ 2026 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
  • Note: The Heat previously owed the Thunder their 2023 first-round pick (top-14 protected). They now owe their 2025 first-round pick (top-14 protected).

February 8

February 8

February 7

  • Cavaliers acquire Caris LeVert and the Heat’s 2022 second-round pick.
  • Pacers acquire Ricky Rubio, the Cavaliers’ 2022 first-round pick (top-14 protected), the Rockets’ 2022 second-round pick, and the Jazz’s 2027 second-round pick.

February 4

January 19

January 13

  • Knicks acquire Cam Reddish, Solomon Hill, the Nets’ 2025 second-round pick, and cash ($834,589).
  • Hawks acquire Kevin Knox and the Hornets’ 2022 first-round pick (top-18 protected).

January 10

This trade was voided when Bol didn’t pass a physical with the Pistons.

January 4

  • Thunder acquire Miye Oni and the Jazz’s 2028 second-round pick.
  • Jazz acquire cash.

January 3

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NBA Dates, Deadlines To Watch In January

January 3rd, 2022 at 11:02am CST by Luke Adams

At the start of the 2021/22 campaign, we looked ahead and identified several dates and deadlines to watch on the NBA calendar this season. While that list covered the general highlights, it’s worth taking a closer look at some of those key dates to keep an eye out for in January, which should be a busy month.

Let’s dive in…

Non-guaranteed contracts become guaranteed

January 10 is the date that all non-guaranteed NBA contracts for 2021/22 will officially become guaranteed, but January 7 is really the day to watch. If a team wants to avoid having a salary become guaranteed, the player must clear waivers before January 10, which means he needs to be cut by January 7 — at the latest.

Many players without fully guaranteed salaries are in no danger of being waived by Friday, but some teams will take the opportunity to save a little money and open up a roster spot.

Teams can begin signing players to non-hardship 10-day contracts

There have already been far more 10-day signings completed this season than in a typical year, and technically the 10-day window hasn’t even opened yet.

The NBA has allowed teams this season to sign players to 10-day contracts using hardship exceptions when a club is missing players due to injuries or the health and safety protocols. As of January 5, teams will be able to sign players to non-hardship 10-day contracts, regardless of how many players are on the club’s injury report.

These non-hardship 10-day deals will count against team salary for cap and tax purposes and will require an opening on the 15-man roster to complete.

We extensively outlined the details of 10-day contracts and explained how they work in our glossary entry on the subject.

More players become trade-eligible

A huge percentage of the NBA’s offseason signees became eligible to be traded back on December 15, but there are still many players who can’t be dealt. By the end of the month, that list of players ineligible to be traded will shrink further, since there are 28 players currently on track to have those restrictions lift between now and January 31.

January 15 is the key date, with 19 players becoming trade-eligible as of that Saturday. That group includes some players who almost certainly aren’t going anywhere, such as John Collins and Jarrett Allen. But a handful of players on that list could be involved in trade rumors in 2022, including Talen Horton-Tucker and Josh Hart.

A number of other offseason signees have unique trade-eligible dates in January, since they were signed sometime after September 15 or inked an offseason extension. That list features names both big (Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Kevin Durant) and small (Ed Davis, Jabari Parker, and Armoni Brooks).

Other odds and ends

There are a few other dates in January that are worth mentioning, despite the fact that they’ll likely come and go without much fanfare.

On January 10, mid-level and room exceptions – along with other cap exceptions like the bi-annual exception – will start to prorate for the year, meaning a team with its full room exception available would no longer be able to offer the full $4.91MM amount to a free agent. Exceptions will decline in value by 1/174th per day, starting on January 10.

January 15 is the last day that teams can apply for a disabled player exception to replace an injured player who is deemed unlikely to return this season. A disabled player exception can give a club extra cap flexibility, though that team may still have to open up a roster spot to add a player using its DPE. Only the Pelicans have received a DPE so far this season.

In past seasons, January 15 was also the deadline for a team to sign a player to a two-way contract, but there’s no deadline for those deals this year. However, on January 20, all players on two-way contracts will have their minimum salaries for the season become fully guaranteed.

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Salaries For 10-Day Contracts In 2021/22

December 27th, 2021 at 9:09am CST by Luke Adams

When a player signs a 10-day contract, his team can theoretically use cap room or an exception to pay him more than the minimum salary. However, in practice, that never happens — virtually every player that signs a 10-day deal receives a prorated portion of the minimum salary.

The minimum salary in a given season differs from player to player, based on his years of NBA experience entering the season. For instance, in 2021/22, a rookie on a full-season minimum deal will earn $925,258, whereas a 10-year veteran who is earning the minimum will make $2,641,691.

[RELATED: NBA Minimum Salaries For 2021/22]

The same is true for 10-day deals. A rookie will earn significantly less over the course of his 10 days with a team than a tenured NBA veteran will.

Because the 2021/22 season is 174 days long, a player’s full-season minimum salary can be divided by 174 to calculate his daily salary. From there, it’s just a matter of multiplying by 10 to determine his salary on a 10-day contract.

Using that formula, here’s the full breakdown of what salaries for 10-day deals look like in ’21/22:

Years in NBA Salary
0 $53,176
1 $85,578
2 $95,930
3 $99,380
4 $102,831
5 $111,457
6 $120,083
7 $128,709
8 $137,336
9 $138,019
10+ $151,821

Because the NBA doesn’t want teams to avoid signing veteran players in favor of cheaper, younger options, the league reimburses clubs who sign veterans with three or more years of experience to 10-day, minimum-salary contracts.

In those instances, teams are on the hook for $95,930, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience, while the NBA covers the difference. So a team would pay the same amount whether they sign a player with three years under his belt or a player with 12 years of NBA experience.

Based on the new temporary roster rules agreed upon by the league and the players’ union, 10-day contracts signed via hardship exceptions don’t count against team salary for cap or tax purposes. So even though the team is responsible for paying $95,930 to a player signed to a 10-day hardship deal, that money won’t count against the team’s cap. Normally, the portion of the player’s salary paid by the team would be his cap hit, even if he’s technically earning a higher salary.

Here are a few examples based on 10-day deals that are currently active:

Player Team Years Salary Paid by team
Javin DeLaurier Bucks 0 $53,176 $53,176
Danuel House Knicks 5 $111,457 $95,930
Joe Johnson Celtics 10 $151,821 $95,930
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2021/22 NBA Game Postponement Tracker

December 23rd, 2021 at 12:49pm CST by Luke Adams

A year ago, the NBA waited until midway through the season to finalize its schedule for the second half, recognizing the need to be flexible and to account for postponements. Sure enough, more than 30 games were eventually needed to be rescheduled, primarily due to complications related to COVID-19.

Heading into 2021/22, there was a hope that fewer – if any – postponements would be required. The league released its entire schedule at once and made it through most of the first two months of the regular season without having any games affected by COVID-19 outbreaks.

However, that has changed as of late. So, with the number of postponements beginning to add up, we’re creating a space to track them all. The full list of postponed 2021/22 games is below. Once the NBA announces plans to reschedule these contests, we’ll add those details to our breakdown.

This tracker will continue to be updated throughout the ’21/22 league year, and can be found anytime in the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Features” menu on our mobile site.

Detroit Pistons at Chicago Bulls

  • Original date: December 14, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Bulls were affected by a COVID-19 outbreak.
  • New date: January 11, 2022

Chicago Bulls at Toronto Raptors

  • Original date: December 16, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Bulls were affected by a COVID-19 outbreak.
  • New date: February 3, 2022

New Orleans Pelicans at Philadelphia 76ers

  • Original date: December 19, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Sixers were affected by a COVID-19 outbreak.
  • New date: January 25, 2022

Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks

  • Original date: December 19, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Cavaliers were affected by a COVID-19 outbreak.
  • New date: March 31, 2022

Denver Nuggets at Brooklyn Nets

  • Original date: December 19, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Nets were affected by a COVID-19 outbreak.
  • New date: January 26, 2022

Orlando Magic at Toronto Raptors

  • Original date: December 20, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Magic were affected by a COVID-19 outbreak.
  • New date: March 4, 2022

Washington Wizards at Brooklyn Nets

  • Original date: December 21, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Nets were affected by a COVID-19 outbreak.
  • New date: February 17, 2022

Toronto Raptors at Chicago Bulls

  • Original date: December 22, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Raptors didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
  • New date: January 26, 2022

Brooklyn Nets at Portland Trail Blazers

  • Original date: December 23, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Nets didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
  • New date: January 10, 2022

Miami Heat at San Antonio Spurs

  • Original date: December 29, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Heat didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
  • New date: February 3, 2022

Golden State Warriors at Denver Nuggets

  • Original date: December 30, 2021
  • Reason for postponement: The Nuggets didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
  • New date: March 7, 2022
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Checking In On 10-Day Contracts

December 22nd, 2021 at 7:00am CST by Luke Adams

A series of COVID-19 outbreaks across the NBA and new rules that require teams to be more aggressive in signing replacement players have resulted in a ton of new 10-day deals within the last week.

By our count, 27 players are currently on 10-day contracts, while another 16 players have reportedly agreed to deals that aren’t yet official, resulting in a total of 43 10-day pacts. That number figures to continue increasing in the coming days, since no active 10-day contracts are set to expire before Saturday night.

With the transaction wire moving so quickly, your best bet for keeping tabs on deals as they happen is to follow our 10-day contract tracker and our roster counts page, which we’re updating several times daily to reflect the latest signings and contract agreements.

This morning, we’re taking a quick snapshot of the currently active 10-day deals, listing them all in one spot in the space below. This post won’t continue to be updated and will likely become outdated in a matter of hours (or even minutes). So again, you’ll want to follow our other trackers to stay up to date on subsequent roster moves. But here are the NBA’s current 10-day contracts, both official and unofficial, as of Wednesday morning:

Runs through December 25:

Runs through December 26:

Runs through December 27:

Runs through December 28:

Runs through December 29:

Runs through December 30:

Reported but not yet official:

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Hoops Rumors’ 2021/22 NBA 10-Day Contract Tracker

December 21st, 2021 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

During a typical NBA league year, teams become eligible to sign players to 10-day contracts on January 5, and many of the signings that take place between that date and the end of the regular season are of the 10-day variety.

However, for a second consecutive year, the league has allowed 10-day signings to be completed earlier in the season as long as a team is using a hardship exception to make the move. And with so many players in the league’s health and safety protocols, hardship exceptions have been available to a ton of teams around the NBA.

That means Hoops Rumors’ 10-day contract tracker, which we use to keep tabs on every 10-day signing completed in a given season, has been brought out of hibernation a little early in 2021/22.

Besides featuring all of this year’s 10-day deals, our 10-day contract tracker includes information on all 10-day contracts signed since the 2006/07 season. The search filters in the database make it easy to sort by team, player and year. For instance, if you want to see all the 10-day contracts that the Lakers have signed in the last 15 years, you can do so here.

You can also see whether a player and team signed a second 10-day contract, or if those short-term deals led to an agreement that covered the rest of the season. Additionally, our tracker, which is updated when a 10-day signing becomes official, notes which 10-day deals remain active, saving you from having to figure out whether a particular contract ends on Wednesday or Thursday.

A link to our 10-day contract tracker can be found at any time in the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site. On our mobile site, you can find it on our “Features” page. We’ll be keeping it up to date for the rest of the season, so be sure to check back to keep tabs on the latest signings as they become official.

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2021/22 NBA Health And Safety Protocols Tracker

December 17th, 2021 at 12:20pm CST by Luke Adams

[UPDATE: This tracker is no longer being updated as of February 14, 2022.]

After finishing the 2019/20 season in a Walt Disney World bubble in Florida and spending much of the 2020/21 season playing in front of empty or half-full arenas, NBA teams had hoped to recapture a sense of normalcy in ’21/22.

However, while the season got off to a promising start, an increasing number of players have been affected by COVID-19, resulting in clubs playing shorthanded as outbreaks impact rosters around the league.

Players who test positive for the coronavirus have been required to remain in the NBA’s health and safety protocols for at least six days or until they return two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart. Players who are unvaccinated have also been required to enter the protocols when they’re deemed to be a close contact of someone who tested positive — they can exit the protocols after a certain number of consecutive negative tests across multiple days.

We’re hopeful that in a matter of weeks, the number of players in the health and safety protocols will decrease significantly, rendering a tracker unnecessary. But for the time being, there are so many players in the protocols that it makes sense to compile the full list in one place in order to monitor which teams are most affected.

A few notes about this tracker:

  • Our goal will be to update the list multiple times per day (if necessary) on weekdays, and at least once per day on weekends.
  • The list will only include players, not coaches or other staffers.
  • We’ll remove names from the list once they’ve “cleared” the health and safety protocols and reported back to their teams, even if they haven’t yet met the conditioning requirements and passed the cardiac tests necessary to return to game action.

The players currently in the NBA’s health and safety protocols are listed below. If you have any questions or corrections, please leave a comment below or use our contact form.

Updated 2-14-22 (9:42am CT)

Atlanta Hawks

  • None

Boston Celtics

  • None

Brooklyn Nets

  • None

Charlotte Hornets

  • None

Chicago Bulls

  • None

Cleveland Cavaliers

  • None

Dallas Mavericks

  • None

Denver Nuggets

  • None

Detroit Pistons

  • None

Golden State Warriors

  • None

Houston Rockets

  • None

Indiana Pacers

  • None

Los Angeles Clippers

  • None

Los Angeles Lakers

  • None

Memphis Grizzlies

  • None

Miami Heat

  • None

Milwaukee Bucks

  • None

Minnesota Timberwolves

  • None

New Orleans Pelicans

  • None

New York Knicks

  • None

Oklahoma City Thunder

  • None

Orlando Magic

  • None

Philadelphia 76ers

  • None

Phoenix Suns

  • None

Portland Trail Blazers

  • None

Sacramento Kings

  • None

San Antonio Spurs

  • None

Toronto Raptors

  • None

Utah Jazz

  • None

Washington Wizards

  • None
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More Than 100 NBA Players Become Trade-Eligible

December 15th, 2021 at 8:15am CST by Luke Adams

Today is December 15, which means that – by our count – 106 NBA players who signed as free agents this offseason have officially become eligible to be traded.

That list, which can be found right here, features a number of players who absolutely aren’t going anywhere this season, including Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan, Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, and Suns guard Chris Paul, among others.

However, it also features several players whose names have already popped up in trade rumors in the months since they were signed, such as Celtics guard Dennis Schröder, Rockets center Daniel Theis, Spurs sharpshooter Bryn Forbes, and Knicks guard Kemba Walker.

Nineteen of the players on the list can’t be traded without their consent, since they have the ability to veto trades this season. Multiple players from the Nets, Nuggets, Pistons, Heat, Bucks, and Suns fall into that group.

Finally, it’s worth noting that there are still many recently-signed players around the NBA who remain ineligible to be dealt. Some will become trade-eligible on January 15, while others have specific dates to watch.

Of course, while December 15 is considered the unofficial start of the NBA’s trade season, we shouldn’t expect a flurry of deals in the coming days. Typically, teams wait until closer to the trade deadline (February 10) to make their moves.

To illustrate this point, let’s take a look back at the last five seasons in which a huge swath of players became trade-eligible on December 15 (we’re throwing out the 2020/21 campaign, since the delayed start to the condensed season meant that the usual Dec. 15 deadline didn’t actually arrive until February).

From the 2015/16 season through the 2019/20 campaign, a total of just three trades were completed between December 15 and the end of the calendar year on December 31. One of those three deals – the Jordan Clarkson trade between the Cavaliers and Jazz on Dec. 23, 2019 – didn’t involve any players whose trade restrictions had recently lifted.

The only two instances in recent years in which teams moved relatively quickly after December 15 to deal newly trade-eligible players occurred in 2015, when the Pelicans sent Ish Smith to the Sixers on Dec. 24, and in 2018, when the Suns sent Trevor Ariza to the Wizards on Dec. 17.

The original three-team version of that Ariza deal memorably fell apart due to a mixup over whether Dillon Brooks or MarShon Brooks was included, which perhaps served as a cautionary tale for front offices, encouraging them not to rush into anything right after Dec. 15.

The league’s recent trade history doesn’t mean we won’t see any trades this month, but if we get more than one or two, it would be an exception to the rule. We should expect more activity in January and February, even as talks start to heat up in December.

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