Hoops Rumors Originals

Checking In On Unsigned 2025 NBA Draft Picks

August 7th, 2025 at 7:49am CST by Luke Adams

As our tracker shows, 51 of the 59 players selected in the 2025 draft in June have signed their first NBA contracts. That group includes all 30 first-round picks getting rookie scale contracts, 11 second-round picks signing standard contracts, and 10 more second-rounders receiving two-way deals.

On top of those 51 players, two more will reportedly remain overseas for the 2025/26 season, with Bucks second-rounder Bogoljub Markovic rejoining Mega Basket in Serbia and Cavaliers second-rounder Saliou Niang signing with Virtus Bologna in Italy.

That leaves just six players from the 2025 draft class whose ’25/26 plans remain up in the air. Those players are as follows:

Boston Celtics: Amari Williams
New York Knicks: Mohamed Diawara
Golden State Warriors: Alex Toohey
Utah Jazz: John Tonje
Golden State Warriors: Will Richard
Memphis Grizzlies: Jahmai Mashack

Let’s start with Williams, the only top-50 pick who doesn’t have a deal in place. Former ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony reported on draft night that the No. 46 overall pick would be signing a two-way contract with the Celtics, and that still looks like a possibility.

Boston doesn’t have a two-way opening, but Miles Norris is a carry-over from last season and it’s unclear whether the team has legitimate interest in retaining RJ Luis after acquiring him from Utah on Wednesday or if he was simply a placeholder to make the deal work. Either player could be waived to open up a spot for Williams.

As Wednesday’s Georges Niang deal showed, however, the Celtics continue to explore their options on the trade market and may make a real effort to duck below the luxury tax line. In that scenario, signing Williams to a standard contract that pays him the rookie minimum might make some sense, since it would allow the C’s to keep their costs as low as possible for their 14th man.

The Knicks have somewhat similar cap considerations to evaluate with Diawara. They’re currently carrying 12 players on standard contracts and they don’t have enough room below a second-apron hard cap to add two more players on veteran minimum deals. That means their 14th man figures to be a player on a rookie-minimum contract.

Diawara is a candidate to be that 14th man, but he’s not the only one — 2023 second-rounder James Nnaji is another possibility. If Diawara isn’t signed to a standard contract, he’ll likely end up on a two-way deal, given that the Knicks have three open slots and his former team in France announced last month that he was leaving for the NBA.

The Warriors have a pair of two-way openings that Toohey and Richard could end up filling, but they’ll probably keep their options open until Jonathan Kuminga‘s restricted free agency is resolved. Depending on what happens with Kuminga, Golden State may want to add either Toohey or Richard to its 15-man roster on a rookie minimum contract in order to maximize its cap flexibility below a hard cap or to avoid crossing over into first or second tax apron territory.

Before trading Luis to Boston on Wednesday, the Jazz just had one open two-way slot, with Tonje and two-way restricted free agent Oscar Tshiebwe both candidates to fill it. With Luis out of the picture, Utah could sign both players to two-way contracts without having to waive anyone, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the plan.

As for the Grizzlies and Mashack, he looks like the most obvious candidate to fill Memphis’ lone two-way opening. But it’s worth noting that there’s often at least one player per draft class who ends up being a domestic draft-and-stash, spending his rookie season in the G League without signing an NBA or two-way contract. We’ll see if the Grizzlies want to try to go that route with Mashack or if he simply ends up on a two-way deal.

2026 NBA Trade Deadline Set For February 5

August 6th, 2025 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s trade deadline for the 2025/26 season will be on Thursday, February 5 at 3:00 pm Eastern time, according to the league’s official list of key dates for the upcoming season.

That date for the 2026 trade deadline had been expected based on a previously confirmed regular season start date of October 21, but it hadn’t been officially listed on NBA.com until now.

That deadline is worth highlighting today due to how it will affect players who sign veteran contract extensions for the rest of the 2025/26 league year. When a player signs a veteran extension, he may become ineligible to be traded for six months if his new deal meets certain criteria. Six months from today would be February 6, one day after the trade deadline.

That means a player who signs a veteran extension between now and the Feb. 5 deadline will be ineligible to be traded this season if his new deal meets any of the following criteria:

His current contract and new extension exceed four years in total.
His starting salary on the extension is worth more than 120% of the final-year salary on his current deal (or 120% of the NBA’s estimated average salary, for a player earning below the average)
He receives a raise greater than 5% between the first and second years of the extension (or in any subsequent seasons).
His current contract is renegotiated as part of the extension.

Knicks forward Mikal Bridges is one example of a recently extended player who meets one or more of these criteria. He’s now under contract for five years in total, received a 2026/27 salary exceeding 120% of his ’25/26 cap hit, and will get 8% annual raises. That means Bridges is ineligible to be traded for six months, but because his deal was finalized on August 1, his trade restrictions will lift on February 1, a few days before this season’s deadline.

This rule doesn’t apply to players who sign rookie scale extensions. They can be traded immediately, though the poison pill provision might make it difficult to do so.

Players who sign veteran extensions that don’t meet any of the criteria above are also eligible to be traded immediately. Mavericks big man Daniel Gafford is an example of a player who falls into this category. The three-year extension he signed last month resulted in him being under contract for four years in total, and his new deal starts at 120% of his previous salary and features 5% annual raises. As a result, no trade restrictions currently apply to Gafford.

November 5 is another date worth keeping in mind now that the trade deadline for 2026 is officially set. A free agent who signs with an NBA team after Nov. 5 won’t become trade-eligible this season.

Key Dates, Deadlines For Restricted Free Agents

August 6th, 2025 at 10:42am CST by Luke Adams

While it’s not uncommon for restricted free agency to play out slowly for certain NBA players, it’s rare for so many high-level RFAs to remain unsigned a month after the July moratorium lifted. Jonathan Kuminga (Warriors), Josh Giddey (Bulls), Quentin Grimes (Sixers), and Cam Thomas (Nets) continue to negotiate with their respective teams after wrapping up their rookie scale contracts earlier this summer.

While we wait for resolution on those top four RFAs, it’s worth taking a closer look at the important dates and deadlines that apply during the restricted free agency process, including both the ones that have already passed and the ones still to come.

Here’s the breakdown:

June 29: Last day to tender a qualifying offer to a player eligible for restricted free agency

A player is eligible for restricted free agency if he’s a former first-round pick who is wrapping up the fourth year of his rookie scale contract or if he’s a former second-round pick or undrafted free agent who has been in the NBA for no more than three years.

If a player meets that criteria, a team must issue a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent. The qualifying offer is a one-year contract offer whose exact value is determined by an existing formula. While the player has the option of signing that qualifying offer, it can also serve as a placeholder that gives the player’s team the right of first refusal in the event he signs an offer sheet with another club.

We go into far more detail on how qualifying offers and how they’re calculated in our glossary entry on the subject. The headline here is that June 29 is the last day they can be issued — a player who doesn’t receive a qualifying offer on or before that date will instead become an unrestricted free agent.

Teams typically don’t issue qualifying offers far in advance of this deadline even if their decisions are relatively straightforward ones. In 2025, for instance, 30 of the 37 players who received QOs got them on either June 28 or June 29, per RealGM.

July 13: Last day for a team to unilaterally withdraw a qualifying offer

While a player can accept his qualifying offer as soon as he receives it, most QOs remain unsigned at the start of free agency, opening the door for a team to rescind its qualifying offer without the player’s approval.

For instance, on July 1 of this year, the Bucks withdrew their qualifying offer to Ryan Rollins, who began the league year as a restricted free agent. Rescinding that QO made Rollins an unrestricted free agent and meant he no longer had the option of accepting the one-year, $2.6MM offer.

In that case, the Bucks’ decision was about maximizing their cap room — withdrawing Rollins’ qualifying offer slightly reduced his cap hit, creating a little extra spending flexibility for the team to sign Myles Turner. Milwaukee retained Rollins’ Early Bird rights when he became an unrestricted free agent and was able to eventually re-sign him to a starting salary ($4MM) that exceeded his QO. So that scenario was a win-win for the player and team, but that isn’t always the case when a qualifying offer is pulled.

After July 13, a team can no longer unilaterally withdraw a player’s qualifying offer, which means that any rescinded QO on July 14 is a result of a mutual decision between the team and player.

This situation played out with multiple two-way restricted free agents this summer — Enrique Freeman (Pacers) and Isaiah Crawford (Kings) agreed to have their QOs withdrawn after July 13, which made them unrestricted free agents and allowed them to sign two-way deals with new clubs (the Timberwolves and Rockets, respectively).

October 1: Deadline for a restricted free agent to accept his qualifying offer

Between July 13 and October 1, a restricted free agent has the security of having his qualifying offer as a fallback plan, knowing that his team can’t take it off the table without his approval.

That doesn’t necessarily mean an RFA who remains unsigned on July 14 won’t get a deal done until that Oct. 1 deadline gets close, but the lack of any other deadlines before October results in little immediate urgency during late July and August. That’s one reason why we’ve seen little movement on Kuminga, Giddey, Grimes, and Thomas in recent weeks.

If the October 1 deadline passes without a player signing his qualifying offer, he remains a restricted free agent but would no longer have the option of accepting his one-year QO, which would significantly reduce his leverage.

It’s important to note that the October 1 deadline isn’t necessarily a hard and fast one — it can be pushed back as long as the team and player agree, and that can be done multiple times. For example, the two sides may initially agree to delay the deadline back to Oct. 15, then two weeks later decide to push it back again to November 1. However, that date can’t be postponed indefinitely…

March 1: Very last day for a restricted free agent to accept his qualifying offer; deadline for an RFA to sign an offer sheet

A team and a restricted free agent aren’t permitted to push the deadline to accept a qualifying offer beyond March 1. If an RFA still doesn’t have resolution on his contract situation by that date, his QO would go away, meaning he wouldn’t be able to accept it on March 2.

A restricted free agent also isn’t eligible to sign an offer sheet with a rival team after March 1. That means that if he hopes to play in the NBA during that season, his options between March 2 and the end of the season would essentially be down to one: Work out a new agreement with his current team.

If a restricted free agent goes the entire season without signing any sort of contract, he doesn’t become unrestricted the following year. His current team has the ability to once again tender him a qualifying offer by June 29 with the same terms as the previous QO, and if the club issues that offer, the process would begin all over again for a second year.

Essentially, a restricted free agent’s options only get worse once October 1 (or the newly agreed-upon QO decision deadline) passes, which is why we should probably count on resolution for this year’s top RFAs well before the regular season gets underway.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Players Who Can’t Be Traded Until January 15

August 5th, 2025 at 12:51pm CST by Luke Adams

As we detailed in a separate article, players who signed new contracts as free agents during the 2025/26 league year can’t be traded for three months or until December 15, whichever comes later. That means that nearly every team has at least one player – and often more than one – who won’t become trade-eligible until mid-December.

There’s also a small subset of free agent signees whose trade ineligibility lasts for an extra month. These players all meet a specific set of criteria: Not only did they re-sign with their previous team this offseason, but they got a raise exceeding 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.

Listed below are the players who meet this criteria and can’t be traded until at least January 15, 2026. We’ll continue to update this page over the next few months, if necessary.

Players Who Can’t Be Traded Until December 15

August 5th, 2025 at 10:00am CST by Luke Adams

As teams explore the trade market for potential deals to complete their rosters for training camp, there are a number of trade restrictions those clubs must take into account. Most notably, newly signed free agents can’t be dealt until at least December 15.

The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement states that a free agent who signs with an NBA team can’t be traded for three months or until December 15, whichever is later. There are also some recently signed players who meet a few specific criteria and can’t be traded until January 15. That list of players can be found right here.

The players who aren’t eligible to be traded until December 15 are listed below.

Players whose contracts haven’t been officially finalized aren’t yet listed below. Players who have the ability to veto trades in 2025/26 are marked with a caret (^). Players on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts are marked with an asterisk (*). Players on Exhibit 10 contracts won’t be listed here unless they make the regular season roster.

We’ll continue to update this page over the next few months as players are signed or waived.

Updated 9-4-25 (3:37 pm CT)

Atlanta Hawks

Boston Celtics

Brooklyn Nets

Cam Thomas ^
Day’Ron Sharpe

Charlotte Hornets

Spencer Dinwiddie
Mason Plumlee

Chicago Bulls

Tre Jones

Cleveland Cavaliers

Larry Nance Jr.

Dallas Mavericks

Denver Nuggets

Bruce Brown
Tim Hardaway Jr.

Detroit Pistons

Golden State Warriors

None

Houston Rockets

Indiana Pacers

James Wiseman *

Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Lakers

Memphis Grizzlies

Miami Heat

Dru Smith

Milwaukee Bucks

Minnesota Timberwolves

Joe Ingles ^
Julius Randle

New Orleans Pelicans

Kevon Looney
Jaden Springer *

New York Knicks

Jordan Clarkson
Guerschon Yabusele

Oklahoma City Thunder

Ajay Mitchell

Orlando Magic

Tyus Jones
Moritz Wagner ^

Philadelphia 76ers

Phoenix Suns

Portland Trail Blazers

Damian Lillard ^
Blake Wesley

Sacramento Kings

San Antonio Spurs

Toronto Raptors

Sandro Mamukelashvili
Garrett Temple

Utah Jazz

None

Washington Wizards

Marvin Bagley III
Anthony Gill

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Checking In On Two-Way Contract Slots Around NBA

August 2nd, 2025 at 10:11am CST by Luke Adams

NBA teams are each permitted to carry up to three players on two-way contracts, which means at any given time there could be a maximum of 90 players on two-way deals around the league.

We can expect the NBA-wide total to hover at or near 90 for much of the regular season, but we’re only one month into the 2025/26 league year, so many teams have yet to fill all of their two-way slots.

Still, some clubs haven’t wasted much time in signing players to two-way contracts. At the moment, as our tracker shows, 70 of the 90 slots around the league are occupied and two more are reportedly spoken for — Amari Williams is expected to sign a two-way contract with the Celtics and Branden Carlson is expected to complete a two-way deal with the Thunder.

We’re still more than two-and-a-half months away from the 2025/26 regular season tipping off, and since two-way deals don’t affect a team’s cap situation, it won’t be a surprise if many teams rotate players in and out of those roster spots up until the season begins (and after that). But for the time being, there are just 20 open two-way slots across the league. Here’s the breakdown:

Teams with multiple open two-way slots

Golden State Warriors (2)
New York Knicks (3)
Oklahoma City Thunder (2)
San Antonio Spurs (2)

Some of these spots may already be spoken for. As we noted above, Carlson is expected to sign a two-way contract with the Thunder. The Warriors have a two-way qualifying offer on the table for Taran Armstrong, while the Knicks (Kevin McCullar Jr.) and Spurs (Harrison Ingram, Riley Minix) also have two-way restricted free agents who have yet to sign.

Some of these clubs also have second-round picks from this year’s draft who look like logical candidates for two-way spots. Golden State selected Alex Toohey at No. 52 and Will Richard at No. 56 — it would be a surprise if at least one of them doesn’t end up on a two-way deal. New York has yet to sign No. 51 pick Mohamed Diawara, though he’s a candidate for a standard roster spot, as we discussed earlier today.

Still, with multiple openings to work with, some of these teams are in position to identify Summer League standouts whom they want to bring to training camp. They could offer them two-way deals or could try to sign several players to Exhibit 10 contracts and create an open competition for two-way spots this fall.

Teams with one open two-way slot

Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
Cleveland Cavaliers
Dallas Mavericks
Detroit Pistons
Los Angeles Lakers
Memphis Grizzlies
Miami Heat
Orlando Magic
Portland Trail Blazers
Utah Jazz

As with some of the teams in the first section, there are a few cases here where there’s an obvious candidate to fill a team’s two-way opening.

The Pistons, for example, still have a two-way qualifying offer on the table for Daniss Jenkins. The same is true of the Jazz with Oscar Tshiebwe (Utah also has No. 53 overall pick John Tonje still unsigned). And as we observed earlier, Williams is expected to get the Celtics‘ last two-way spot.

There’s not a single clear-cut candidate for all of these openings though, so agents whose clients are seeking an 18-man roster spot will likely reach out to these clubs to see how they intend to use their third two-way contract slots.

Teams with no two-way openings

Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Denver Nuggets
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Sacramento Kings
Toronto Raptors
Washington Wizards

In theory, these 15 teams are good to go for training camp. In actuality, I won’t be surprised if a number of them make two-way changes by the start of October. We saw the Timberwolves do just that on Friday when they reportedly waived Jesse Edwards – whose two-way contract carried over from last season – in order to accommodate newcomer Enrique Freeman and another returning player, Tristen Newton.

Houston, it’s worth noting, still has a two-way qualifying offer on the table for N’Faly Dante. If Dante accepts that qualifying offer, a roster move would be necessary for the Rockets, who have signed three players to two-way contracts since the start of July.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Hoops Rumors Glossary: Exhibit 9 Contract

August 1st, 2025 at 3:11pm CST by Luke Adams

When NBA teams are in the process of filling out their training camp rosters, the most common form of deal signed by players around the league is the Exhibit 10 contract. An Exhibit 10 contract can be converted into a two-way deal or puts a player in line to earn a bonus if he’s waived and then joins his team’s G League affiliate.

Many of those non-guaranteed training camps also include an Exhibit 9 clause in addition to – or in place of – Exhibit 10 language.

An Exhibit 9 clause protects an NBA team in the event that a player suffers a significant injury in training camp.

If a player on a standard non-guaranteed contract without an Exhibit 9 clause suffered such an injury, his club would be required to pay him his salary until he’s healthy enough to play or until the end of that season, whichever comes first. For example, a player on a non-guaranteed rookie minimum deal who sustained a season-ending ACL tear would be owed his full $1,272,870 salary.

If the injured player’s contract includes Exhibit 9 language, however, his team could waive him and only be on the hook for a one-time payment of $15K. That amount increased from $6K when the NBA completed its latest Collective Bargaining Agreement.

An Exhibit 9 deal, which is non-guaranteed and doesn’t count against the salary cap until the start of the regular season, can only be a one-year, minimum-salary contract. A team can carry up to six players on Exhibit 9 deals, but can’t sign a player to such a contract unless it has at least 14 players already under contract (not including two-way deals).

In most cases, if a team plans to have a player on a non-guaranteed contract participate in training camp and/or the preseason, his contract will include an Exhibit 9 clause in order to limit the club’s liability.

If a player signs a contract that includes Exhibit 10 language but not an Exhibit 9 clause, it’s usually a signal that he’s just being added for G League rights/bonus purposes and won’t actually be participating in training camp with his team. Conversely, an Exhibit 9 contract that doesn’t include Exhibit 10 language suggests the player will probably be taking part in camp but may not be a candidate to join his team’s G League affiliate if he’s waived.

So far this offseason, we’ve confirmed the contract details on a dozen Exhibit 10 contracts that have been officially signed and all 12 of them also include an Exhibit 9 clause. At least one contract – the Suns‘ deal with Jared Butler – is an Exhibit 9, but not an Exhibit 10.

An Exhibit 9 contract that also includes Exhibit 10 language can be converted into a two-way deal. In that scenario, the Exhibit 9 clause would become null and void, so the team would no longer have injury protection.

In the event that a player with Exhibit 9 language in his contract makes his team’s regular season roster, his deal would be converted to a standard non-guaranteed contract. The Exhibit 9 protection wouldn’t carry over into the regular season.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier version of this article were published in 2014 and 2023.

Hoops Rumors Glossary: Minimum Salary Floor

July 31st, 2025 at 11:09am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s salary cap primarily serves as a way to restrict the amount a team can invest in player salaries in a given year. However, because the league has a soft cap rather than a hard cap, there’s technically no specific figure that clubs are prohibited from exceeding once they go over the cap to re-sign players. As long as a team doesn’t use certain exceptions or acquire a player via sign-and-trade, that team doesn’t face a hard cap.

There is, however, a specific threshold on the lower end that teams must meet in each NBA season. The league’s minimum salary floor requires a club to spend at least 90% of the salary cap on player salaries. For instance, with the 2025/26 cap set at $154,647,000, the salary floor for this season is $139,182,000.

For the purposes of calculating whether a team has reached the minimum salary threshold, cap holds and international buyouts aren’t considered, but players who suffered career-ending injuries or illnesses are included in the count, even if they’ve since been removed from the club’s cap.

Under the NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, the penalties levied against a team whose salary was below the minimum floor at the end of the season weren’t very harsh — the franchise was simply required to make up the shortfall by paying the difference to its players.

However, the current Collective Bargaining Agreement has made those penalties for teams below the minimum salary floor significantly more punitive.

A team is now required to reach the minimum salary floor by the start of the regular season, rather than the end of the regular season. A team whose salary is below the minimum floor at the start of the regular season won’t receive a share of the end-of-season luxury tax payouts.

Additionally, a team whose salary is below the minimum floor at the start of the season will have a cap hold added to its salary in order to reach the minimum floor. For instance, a team with a $134,182,000 salary on opening night in 2025/26 would have a $5MM cap hold added to its salary to reach the $139,182,000 floor and would be unable to immediately access that $5MM of cap room (that “frozen” room could eventually be unfrozen if the team increases its salary above the minimum floor).

At the start of the regular season, a team is assigned an “MTS threshold” figure, which is the lesser of the minimum salary floor or the team’s salary as of opening night. A team that dips below its “MTS threshold” at any time during the regular season would have until the end of the next day to get back above that threshold.

This happened to the Pistons during the 2024/25 season — they briefly dropped below the minimum salary floor when they waived Paul Reed‘s partially guaranteed $8MM contract in December and were required to get back above the floor by the end of the next day. They did so by signing Javante McCoy to a contract worth well above his minimum a little over 24 hours later.

A team that begins the season below the floor cannot reduce the shortfall amount it pays the NBA by spending on player salaries during the season. For example, a team that starts the season $5MM below the floor would pay the league $5MM at that time and wouldn’t recoup that money even if it moves above the floor during the season.

However, if that team’s salary ends up more than $5MM below the floor by the end of the season (ie. as a result of likely incentives not being earned), the club would owe the league an additional payment on top of that initial $5MM.

While the previous CBA called for a team that finished the season below the floor to pay the shortfall to its own players, the shortfall money is now sent to the NBA, which then redirects it to all players. That shortfall money will generally be disbursed to each player in the league in proportion to his salary for that season.

Based on the changes in the current CBA, it’s unlikely that we’ll see any team open a regular season below the minimum salary floor anytime soon — all of the incentives that teams had to remain below the floor into the season have been eliminated. A team operating below the floor on opening night wouldn’t be able to access all of its cap room, would forfeit an end-of-season tax payment, and wouldn’t even be able to award its shortfall amount exclusively to its own players.

The Nets are currently the only NBA team operating below the minimum salary floor for 2025/26 — it’s a safe bet they’ll rectify that sometime before the start of the season this October.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Information from ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this post were published in past years.

NBA Players Who Can Veto Trades In 2025/26

July 29th, 2025 at 9:19am CST by Luke Adams

No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, since a player must meet a specific set of criteria in order to qualify for one. And even those players who become eligible may not have the leverage to demand a no-trade clause, which significantly limits a team’s flexibility in future trade negotiations.

To be eligible to negotiate a no-trade clause, a player must have at least eight years of NBA experience and has to have spent at least four years (not necessarily the most recent four years) with his current team. He also must be signing a free agent contract, rather than an extension.

For the second consecutive season, multiple players will have no-trade clauses in their contracts during the 2025/26 league year. In addition to LeBron James, who got his no-trade clause when he signed his current contract in 2024, Damian Lillard negotiated a no-trade clause into his new deal with the Trail Blazers.

A year ago, it was James and Bradley Beal who had no-trade clauses, but Beal gave his up when he agreed to a buyout with the Suns this offseason.

Prior to 2024/25, the last time more than one player had an actual no-trade clause in his contract was in ’17/18, when three players – James (as a Cavalier), Dirk Nowitzki, and Carmelo Anthony – had them.

Although James and Lillard are the only players who have explicit no-trade clauses in their current deals, there are several others who will have implicit no-trade clauses in 2025/26, giving them the ability to veto trades during the current league year.

A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year deal with an option year – is given no-trade protection, unless he agrees to give up that protection when he inks his deal. That group doesn’t include players on two-way contracts, but it does include players who accept standard (non two-way) one-year qualifying offers.

A player who signs an offer sheet and then has that offer matched by his previous team also has the ability to veto a trade for a full calendar year.

With those criteria in mind, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the ’25/26 league year:

Players with a no-trade clause:

LeBron James (Lakers)
Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers)

Players whose offer sheets were matched:

None

Players who re-signed for one year (or two years, with a second-year player/team option):

Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
Nicolas Batum (Clippers)
Collin Gillespie (Suns)
James Harden (Clippers)
Aaron Holiday (Rockets)
Joe Ingles (Timberwolves)
Kyle Lowry (Sixers)
Jericho Sims (Bucks)
Jae’Sean Tate (Rockets)
Cam Thomas (Nets)
Fred VanVleet (Rockets)
Moritz Wagner (Magic)

If any player who re-signed for one year approves a trade during the 2025/26 league year, he’ll have Non-Bird rights at season’s end instead of Early Bird or full Bird rights.

Any player who approves a trade will retain his veto ability on his new team, and would have to consent to any subsequent deal during the 2025/26 season.

The following players were re-signed to one-year contracts (or two-year deals with an option year), but have agreed to forfeit their right to veto a trade in 2025/26:

Dante Exum (Mavericks)
Anthony Gill (Wizards)
Eric Gordon (Sixers)
Jeff Green (Rockets)
Jaxson Hayes (Lakers)
Chris Livingston (Bucks)
Doug McDermott (Kings)
Jordan McLaughlin (Spurs)
Kevin Porter Jr. (Bucks)
Taurean Prince (Bucks)
Garrett Temple (Raptors)
Gary Trent Jr. (Bucks)

Giving up the right to veto a trade was introduced as an option in the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

2025/26 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By Team

July 28th, 2025 at 9:40am CST by Luke Adams

As the NBA regular season approaches and teams reduce their rosters from the 21-player offseason limit to the 15-man regular season max, the best way to determine which players will survive preseason cuts is to consider their contracts. Players with guaranteed salaries for 2025/26 are far more likely to earn spots on 15-man rosters than players whose contracts aren’t fully guaranteed.

Keeping that in mind, we’re using the space below to keep tabs on the players on each NBA team who don’t have fully guaranteed contracts. The players listed here have non-guaranteed salaries, partially guaranteed salaries, or Exhibit 9 or Exhibit 10 contracts, which essentially function like non-guaranteed deals.

Unless otherwise noted, these players are on minimum-salary contracts. Some players on this list have partial guarantees, which we’ve also mentioned below.

Not all of these players will be waived before the regular season begins, so we’ll maintain this list for the next several months, up until January 10, 2026. That’s the day that all players still under contract will have their salaries fully guaranteed for the rest of the 2025/26 season.

Only players who have formally signed contracts are listed below, so if a player has reportedly reached an agreement with a team on a non-guaranteed deal, we’ll add him to our list when that deal becomes official and we confirm the details.

Without further ado, here’s the full list of players without fully guaranteed salaries for 2025/26, broken down by team:

Updated 9-6-25 (2:52 pm CT)

Note: Players on Exhibit 10 contracts are marked with an asterisk (*).