The moves a team can make on the in-season trade market are dictated in large part by its position relative to the salary cap and to the first and second tax aprons. A team like the Nets, which is operating below the cap, has far more flexibility to make various kinds of deadline deals than a club whose team salary is above the second apron, such as the Cavaliers.
While only one trade has been completed since the season began, that number will grow significantly by February 5. Before that pre-deadline rush arrives, it's worth breaking down exactly what each of the NBA's 30 teams can and can't do on the trade market.
Within each section below, we're sorting teams by their total salary (as of Jan. 26), from highest to lowest.
Let's dive in...
Teams operating above the second tax apron:
- Cleveland Cavaliers
Teams whose total salaries exceed the second tax apron of $207,824,000 don't face any sort of hard cap, but their trade options are extremely limited. Here are the restrictions they face:
❌ Not permitted to aggregate two or more player salaries for matching purposes.
❌ Not permitted to use an outgoing player's salary for matching purposes to take back more than 100% of his salary.
❌ Not permitted to use a traded player exception that was generated during the 2024/25 regular season.
❌ Not permitted to use a traded player exception that was generated using a signed-and-traded player.
❌ Not permitted to use the bi-annual exception or mid-level exception to acquire a player via trade.
❌ Not permitted to send out cash in a trade.
Great article!