The most notable dates of the 2025 NBA offseason are behind us now that we’re well clear of the draft and the free agent period. However, there are still a number of dates and deadlines to keep an eye on in the coming weeks and months before teams take the court for the 2025/26 regular season.
Here’s the breakdown:
August 27 – September 14
- FIBA EuroBasket 2025.
August 29
- Last day for teams to waive players and apply the stretch provision to their 2025/26 salaries.
September 5-6
- Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend for the 2025 class.
September 23
- Media day for the Nets, Knicks, and Pelicans.
September 24
- Training camps open for the Nets, Knicks, Sixers, Pelicans, and Suns.
- Media day for the Suns.
September 26
- Media day for the Sixers.
September 29
- Media day – and training camps open – for the other 25 teams.
October 1
- Last day for a restricted free agent to sign his qualifying offer (unless his team agrees to push back the deadline).
October 2
- Preseason begins.
October 17
- Preseason ends.
October 18
- Last day for players on fully non-guaranteed contracts to be waived and not count at all against a team’s 2025/26 cap. They must clear waivers before the first day of the regular season.
October 20
- Last day of the 2025 offseason.
- Roster limits decrease from 21 players to 18 (4:00 pm CT). Teams will be limited to carrying 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals as of this deadline.
- Last day for teams to sign a player to a rookie scale extension (5:00 pm CT).
[RELATED: Players eligible for rookie scale extensions] - Last day for teams to sign an extension-eligible veteran player with multiple seasons left on his contract (such as Tyler Herro) to an extension. An extension-eligible veteran player on an expiring deal (like Kevin Durant) can still be extended after October 20.
- Last day for teams to complete sign-and-trade deals.
- Last day for teams to convert an Exhibit 10 contract into a two-way contract.
October 21
- 2025/26 regular season begins.
[RELATED: 2025/26 schedules by team]
Information from NBA.com was used in the creation of this post.
Forgive me Luke if I just didn’t catch the date above but what’s the final date for RFAS to accept QO or net a multi year deal ?
Oct 1?…. thanx
Good call, I’ll add that Oct. 1 deadline.
The deadline for an RFA to sign an offer sheet isn’t until March 1, and they could technically still sign a multiyear deal with their own team even after that, but Oct. 1 is the last day for signing the QO.