Most NBA players who signed new contracts as free agents during the 2020 offseason became eligible to be traded as of February 6, but a small subset of players were still ineligible to be dealt until today, March 3.
These players all met a specific set of criteria: Not only did they re-sign with their previous team during the offseason, but they got a raise of at least 20%, their salary is worth more than the minimum, and their team was over the cap, using Bird or Early Bird rights to sign them.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN confirms (via Twitter), the following players fit that bill and are eligible to be traded as of today:
- Joe Harris (Nets)
- Denzel Valentine (Bulls)
- Note: Valentine has the ability to veto a trade.
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Lakers)
- Anthony Davis (Lakers)
- De’Anthony Melton (Grizzlies)
- Pat Connaughton (Bucks)
- Malik Beasley (Timberwolves)
- Juan Hernangomez (Timberwolves)
- Brandon Ingram (Pelicans)
- Michael Carter-Williams (Magic)
- Jevon Carter (Suns)
- Dario Saric (Suns)
- Rodney Hood (Trail Blazers)
- Jakob Poeltl (Spurs)
- Chris Boucher (Raptors)
- Fred VanVleet (Raptors)
- Davis Bertans (Wizards)
A few of these players aren’t realistic candidates to be traded — Davis, Ingram, and VanVleet, for instance, aren’t going anywhere this month. But many of them are role players who would probably be available in the right deal, so it’s worth noting that the restrictions on them have lifted.
Only a small handful of players on standard contracts around the NBA remain ineligible to be dealt. That group of players includes the seven who are on active 10-day contracts, since a player on a 10-day deal can’t be traded. Here’s the rest of the list:
Trade-eligible as of March 18:
- LeBron James (Lakers)
Trade-eligible as of March 23:
- Taj Gibson (Knicks)
Not eligible to be traded this season:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- Paul George (Clippers)
- Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
- Monte Morris (Nuggets)
- Alex Len (Wizards)
Gibson and Len signed after the regular season was already underway, so their restrictions will last longer than the ones on players who signed during the offseason. The others in this group signed veteran contract extensions that exceeded the extend-and-trade limits in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, making them ineligible to be dealt for a few months.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
If I had to put money on it, LeBron gets traded this season. Dude is cooked.
So far from it. The guy has at least 3-4 years left at an elite level.
Lebron went to L.A. for marketing reasons, anyway…he isn’t going anywhere.
I was joking
LeBron is going to team hop again, but this time, to GSW so he can finally stop losing to Curry.
Dude just stop.
You do realize LeBron beat Curry three times in a row, whereas Curry missed three 3PTers in a row to lose that third time? And Curry didn’t do jack, couldn’t even beat the Raptors. You should call KD and thank him.
Monte Morris. Heh heh.
Eh Eh? Career 39% from 3, ast/tov =5x
Of that group, I think Saric, Bertans, and Harris would be the most likely to be traded. Harris and Saric for upgrades to playoff rosters. Bertans because the Wizards might want to salary dump what appears to be a bad signing. Although his deal and sub-par play might make Bertans near impossible to deal. Perhaps the next Chandler Parsons.
Saric comes or goes?— he is doing really well except for only getting in 17 games. PER 19, on-off 18!!
The Harris heirarchy: Tobias > Joe > Gary
Joe has the salary to be most easily traded, and he’s not getting talked about as much in Brooklyn anymore.
Pat Cona’ton doesn’t seem to fit in MIL anymore IMO. MIL needs something, maybe Melton of MEM.