For most of the last few weeks, we've made reference to the end of October as a deadline by which a number of decisions must be made by NBA teams. Whether it's cutting rosters down to 15 players, exercising 2013/14 rookie contract options, or signing fourth-year players to extensions, teams have plenty of decisions to make by the end of the month. Here's a quick rundown of what to look for in the next week:
Monday, October 29th (Last day of offseason)
- Teams must reduce rosters to a maximum of 15 players. Players must be released by Saturday at 4:00pm CT in order to clear waivers by Monday.
- Last day for summer contracts to clear waivers without applying to team salary.
- Last day to complete sign-and-trade deals this season (for taxpaying teams, this will be the last day they can ever make a sign-and-trade deal, until they become a non-taxpayer).
Wednesday, October 31st
- Last day teams can sign players entering the final year of their rookie contracts to extensions.
- Last day teams can exercise 2013/14 team options for second-year and third-year players on rookie contracts.
While a number of decisions are due within the next week, not all of the important early-season deadlines occur in October. For instance, most non-guaranteed contracts don't become guaranteed for the rest of the season until January 10th, 2013, unless a different date was written into a player's contract (ie. DeJuan Blair's 2012/13 salary becomes guaranteed on November 1st).
Larry Coon's Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.