What time does the trade deadline end for NBA 2023?
It’s that time of year again, which means many of the NBA’s teams will be trying to bolster their rosters as they prepare for the business end of the 2022-23 regular season.
With the NBA’s trade deadline almost upon us, there couldn’t be a better time to take a look at what it is, how it works and most of all, who’s likely to be in the running when it all goes down. Of course, we’ve already seen the sensational deals involving the Nets duo of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, both of whom moved to the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns respectively, but we’ve also seen the under-fire Russell Westbrook jump from the Lakers to the Jazz. Who else will be on the move and what which players will be coming in the opposite direction? Let’s get into it!
The NBA trade deadline is full of drama
Though this past offseason as full of blockbuster trades, the coming NBA trade deadline brings with it the prospect of a few more. Indeed, on Thursday a number of players became eligible for trade and with that we’ve now got to wonder, who will be clearing out cap space, who will be trying to ensure a favorable position for Draft capital, or who will simply be trying to offload a player who causes conflict in the locker room. No matter how you cut it, the coming trade deadline is sure to bring with it a host of surprises for the league and its fans.
When is the NBA trade deadline?
The 2023 NBA trade deadline is set to fall on Thursday, February 9th, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. ET.
But what about December 15th? Why is it so important for NBA trades?
Where December 15th is concerned, it marks the special subsection of the trade market where the 74 players who signed free agency deals in the offseason are once again eligible to be moved.
Are there exemptions when it comes to trading in the NBA?
Important to note, is the fact that teams which don’t make the playoffs can actually resume trading players at the end of their respective regular seasons. Playoff bound teams on the other hand, must wait until after they have been eliminated from the postseason before they can trade once again. In general, once the season ends, teams can trade players until the next trade deadline arrives. There are few exceptions to note, such as the fact that trading is significantly reduced during the moratorium period - a week-long break at the beginning of ever salary cap year, during which only a small number of contracts can be finalized. These include but are not limited to deals which involve an offer sheet, a rookie scale contract for a first round draft pick and a contract of one or two seasons that only provides the two-way salary or applicable minimum salary. Remember that.
When can NBA teams trade in 2023?
There are some benefits to losing i.e., the 14 teams who don’t manage to make the postseason can actually start trading players as soon as April 10th arrives, which is to say the end of their regular season. The playoff bound teams, however, are only able to trade after elimination or in the event that they go all the way to winning the NBA Finals.
Zach LaVine could be the next star to move
During the offseason, the Bulls tied Zach Lavine to a five-year max contract worth $215 million. With that, it was clear that Lavine was now the franchise player in Chicago. The only problem is that said franchise has been slightly short of awful. At present Chicago sits near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, while Lavine’s stats have been the lowest in his career so far. On the one side, it may still be too early to start picking apart what was meant to be a stellar trio of Lavine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, but on the other, one wouldn’t want to wait until it’s too late.