Why NBA Trade Season Is About to Pick Up

With the NBA trade deadline less than a month away, Wednesday serves as an important marker for the league. 

Every Jan. 15, players who re-signed with their teams during the offseason may be traded, according to the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. These players must have also been signed to deals that either put their team over the soft salary cap number ($140.6 million) or signed to more than 120% of the salary in the final season of their last contract.

There are 18 players who fall under this criteria, including Sixers All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey and Knicks forward OG Anunoby. These 18 add to the 85 players who signed contracts with new teams during the offseason who were allowed to become trade-eligible on Dec. 15.

While 18 players may not seem like much (about 3% of the league), teams looking to be active before the Feb. 6 trade deadline could have held off until a certain player was made eligible. For example, the Thunder, who sit at the top of the Western Conference, could make a consolidation trade by packaging their hoard of draft picks with desirable role players. Guards Isaiah Joe (four years, $48 million) and Aaron Wiggins (five years, $45 million) are both fairly young role players on team-friendly contracts who are eligible for a trade as of Wednesday.

Other examples include Nets center Nic Claxton and Lakers guard Max Christie. The two teams agreed to a trade in December that sent D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn and Dorian Finney-Smith to Los Angeles. Both teams could continue making moves, with Claxton serving as a trade chip for the rebuilding Nets and Christie as a young asset to help bring in established talent for the win-now Lakers.