Today is January 15th, which means that a number of players who had been ineligible to be traded until this point are now free to be moved by their respective teams. As Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors outlined last month, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, Ersan Ilyasova, and Jeff Green are among the players who weren't eligible to be dealt until today.

However, in addition to rules that keeps players from being traded until December 15th or January 15th, the CBA also includes a stipulation that a team must have a player on its roster for three months before being able to trade him. That means guys who have signed contracts since October 15th are still ineligible to be dealt.

Here are the players who can't be traded quite yet, along with the dates they'll become trade-eligible:

Leandro Barbosa (Celtics): January 18th
Daniel Orton (Thunder): January 31st
Shaun Livingston (Cavaliers): February 15th

Because the trade deadline arrives on February 21st, players signed after November 21st won't become trade-eligible until after the season. Here are the guys who fit that description:

Jeff Adrien (Bobcats)
James Anderson (Rockets)
Patrick Beverley (Rockets)
Daequan Cook (Bulls)
Kevin Jones (Cavaliers)
Mickael Pietrus (Raptors)
Garrett Temple (Wizards)

In addition to recent signees, players who were claimed off amnesty waivers last July are also ineligible to be traded until July 2013. Some amnesty victims, like Andray Blatche, cleared waivers without being claimed and signed new contracts, so they're trade-eligible now, but the following players can't be moved this season:

Elton Brand (Mavericks)
Brendan Haywood (Bobcats)
Luis Scola (Suns)

Finally, players on 10-day contracts, such as Dominic McGuire, Maalik Wayns, and Josh Harrellson, also won't be trade-eligible at any point this season, even if they eventually receive rest-of-season contracts.

4:55pm: Aldridge confirms, via Twitter, that the 'Cats will pay Haywood $2.05MM a year for the next four seasons. The Mavs will pay the rest of the money on his deal, but it won't count against Dallas' salary cap.

4:37pm: The winning bid was for $2.05MM, tweets TNT's David Aldridge. Though the tweet is unclear, I'd assume that's the per-season salary.  

4:11pm: The Bobcats have claimed Brendan Haywood off amnesty waivers, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The Mavericks used the amnesty clause Wednesday to erase the final four seasons and $37.7MM left on his deal. It's unknown how much the winning bid was for, but since the 'Cats were the only team we heard about with a possible interest in the big man, it probably wasn't for too much.

Antawn Jamison talked last week about the possibility of finishing his career with his hometown Bobcats, but it appears there's no shortage of options for the veteran forward. We learned last night that the Nets are discussing a sign-and-trade deal that would send Jamison to Brooklyn, and that the Lakers are in the mix too. As Jamison weighs his options, here are a few more Bobcats-related updates, courtesy of Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer....

• Charlotte appears re-engaged in trying to acquire Kris Humphries to upgrade their power forward spot (Twitter link). ESPN's John Hollinger tweets that DeSagana Diop would have to first be amnestied before Charlotte could offer Humphries a plausible salary. 

• The Bobcats are interested in signing point guard Ramon Sessions, who turned down his player option with the Lakers.
• With the Mavericks preparing to amnesty Brendan Haywood, the center could be a fit for the Bobcats. Haywood spends the offseason in Charlotte, and the Bobcats are one of the few teams that would have the cap space to place a bid via amnesty waivers.
• If the Bobcats were to land Sessions and Haywood, they may no longer have any interest in sign-and-trade talks with the Pacers involving D.J. Augustin. Either way, it appears Augustin won't be a Bobcat next season.
• The Bobcats are targeting bigs, and while it's possible they could add another power forward, a center is more likely.

4:11pm: Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com tweets that the team has officially amnestied Haywood. 

THURSDAY, 1:14pm: The Mavericks have notified the league office that they're releasing Haywood using the amnesty clause, tweets ESPN.com's Marc Stein.

WEDNESDAY, 6:02pm: The Mavericks have decided to use the amnesty clause on Brendan Haywood, according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. The move clears about $37.7MM off the Mavs' salary cap over the next four seasons. Haywood was due to make $8.349MM next year, but the Mavs will pay roughly that same amount to Chris Kaman, who'll presumably take over as the team's starting center after agreeing to sign today.

Haywood will go on waivers for a week, during which any team can claim him and pay either a portion or the full amount of his contract, though it's more likely he'll become an unrestricted free agent. Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com tweets that using the amnesty clause on Haywood allows the Mavs to make a play for former Sixers power forward Elton Brand, who is also expected to be let go via amnesty.

The final year of Haywood's deal with the Mavs, worth more than $10.5MM, is fully non-guaranteed, according to Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com, so the Mavs will pay Haywood all but that amount, despite it not counting toward their salary cap (Twitter link).

We're not expecting to hear a ton of Mavericks rumors until free agency gets underway and Dallas' pursuit of Deron Williams officially begins in earnest. But that doesn't mean the Mavs won't be active today. According to Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com (via Twitter), the club is exploring ways to get into the top 11 of the draft. Any deal would be contingent on one of a handful of desired players being available. Here are a few more draft-day notes out of Dallas:

• GM Donnie Nelson acknowledged that the Mavericks would consider using the amnesty clause this summer, though he wouldn't confirm whether or not Brendan Haywood would be the target, writes Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
• Given the cap limitations facing the Mavs, the team won't be able to offer Jason Terry a contract until it gets an answer from Williams, says Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
• While rival teams may not be allowed to talk to free agents yet, Mavericks players Dirk Nowitzki and Delonte West are doing their share of public recruiting to try to get Williams to Dallas. Nowitzki told KTCK-AM in Dallas (link via the Dallas Morning News) that he'd love to have the point guard running the show for the Mavs next year, while West unleashed a string of tweets explaining why D-Will should choose Dallas. The irony there? West himself is set to hit free agency this weekend.

When the Thunder bench starts firing in the NBA Finals, it will be a case of what could have been for the Heat, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.  For the Heat, Derek Fisher is the one that got away while Daequan Cook was given away.  In order to create cap space in the summer of 2010, Miami sent Cook and the No. 18 pick to the Thunder for the No. 32 pick.  Fisher, meanwhile, rejected the Heat that summer in order to re-up with the Lakers.  More items from around the Association..

• The spread provision in center Brendan Haywood's contract could make the Mavericks center a sweetner in trade talks, writes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News.  Any team that waives Haywood can spread out the payments for the remainder of his contract until 2026, meaning that they would be on the hook for no more than $2MM per year over the next 14 years.
• Despite David Morway’s best efforts to work together, newly-minted Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard consistently went behind his back to upper management to cut him out, sources tell Yannis Koutroupis of HoopsWorld.  Pritchard was apparently the catalyst behind the George Hill and Leandro Barbosa trades.
• It appears ‪that the Pistons‬ will have two workouts for big men, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com (via Twitter).  The first workout will take place on Tuesday with top names like Arnett Moultrie and some less-heralded prospects like Kyle O'Quinn of Norfolk State.
• Alabama's JaMychal Green has been improving his draft stock in recent weeks, writes Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.  Green was a top-20 player coming out of high school but didn't quite play up to his potential in college.

With an exciting night of NBA playoff madness still underway, we take a break from the action to catch up on the latest news and happenings from around the league.

• Mike Woodson has done more than enough to get a shot at coaching the Knicks for an entire season, writes Neil Best of Newsday (subscribers only).
• Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today says Stan Van Gundy would like to return to the Magic next season but realizes that decision is not entirely up to him. 
• The Jazz could have a busy offseason ahead of them as they look to add depth at the point guard and power forward positions, reports HoopsWorld's Derek Page.
• The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry thinks Kendrick Perkins' health is a big question mark as the Thunder look ahead to the second round of the playoffs.
• The Plain Dealer's Mike Pettica has the latest updates on the Cavs' plans for the upcoming NBA draft.
• Mavs center Brendan Haywood discusses in a radio interview why adding Deron Williams to the roster would pay huge dividends for the team in the immediate future.
• The signing of Shane Battier has proven to be fruitful for the Heat especially considering the defense he has been playing against Carmelo Anthony, writes Kevin Armstrong of the New York Daily News.

Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News held an in-depth chat with Mavs fans earlier on Tuesday and answered countless questions related to the team's plans for the offseason. Here are some of the highlights.

• Look for Jason Terry to return to Mavs as the team's sixth man next season instead of signing elsewhere during free agency. Terry provides the team with instant offense off the bench and is most effective when surrounded with quality players. The only way he won't be wearing blue and white next season is if some team offers him an oversized contract and his family is comfortable with the move.
• There hasn't been much conversation about soon-to-be free agent Steve Nash returning to the Mavs this offeason. While fans would like to see Nash reunited with Dirk Nowitzki, the pairing wasn't especially successful the first time around. The decision to add Nash to the mix would make more sense once additional pieces have been acquired to help bolster the current roster.
• The Mavs will likely use their amnesty provision to rid themselves of Brendan Haywood before they make their first free-agent signing. Haywood, 32, is under contract through the 2014/2015 season and is owed approximately $22.2MM. The former UNC star averaged 5.2 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 54 appearances (all starts) with the Mavs this past season.
• Dallas deserves more credit for the success they've enjoyed in the draft given where they typically make their picks (toward the end of the rounds). While the players selected haven't always stayed in Dallas for long, they have been used in trades to acquire key players such as Jason Kidd. 

SportsDayDFW's Eddie Sefko answered some questions in a two-part mailbag (part 1 here, part 2 here) about the Dallas Mavericks' future moves, including which players may or may not be brought back.

• Among the current Mavs players Sefko speculates will not be in Dallas next season are Ian Mahinmi, Vince Carter, Delonte West, and Brian Cardinal, in addition to the all-but-guaranteed departure of Lamar Odom.
• Sefko thinks there's a chance Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, and Brendan Haywood remain in Dallas. Terry will be an unrestricted free agent, Marion has been discussed often in trades, and Haywood is widely believed to be a candidate for Dallas' amnesty clause.
• In addition to Deron Williams, whom it is common knowledge the Mavs will pursue heavily this offseason, Sefko is intrigued by Utah's C.J. Miles as a possible backcourt partner.
• Haywood isn't a sure thing to be amnestied, but the Mavs are still banking on Dwight Howard being in play at some point, at which time it's a lock that they will cut ties with him.
• Sefko believes that if the Mavs sign Williams and retain Marion, free agents will be interested in signing in Dallas for below market value.