NBA jobs are perhaps the most byzantine and confusing in all professional sports, with restrictions on who can be traded and when. With the low season roughly the peak time for trading, and in fact trading being permitted until the trade deadline in February, Why aren’t players swapped during pre-season?
Apart from the July moratorium, which sees all trading was frozen for five days at the start of the new hoop year, NBA deals are the essence of summer. With qualifying offers and waivers leading to stretch provisions, not to mention the signing of second-round picks, negotiations are in full swing in August and September.
Anyone unsigned on Sept. 6 becomes a free agent and deals can still be made, but under CBA rules, trading can only take place from the beginning from the regular season until the week 17 trade deadline. Since the preseason is after the cut and before the start of the regular season, trades are dripping.
This does not mean that teams are prohibited from exchanging in itselfbut with the restrictions imposed on all summer transactions, it is virtually impossible to find a player who qualifies to be traded during this period.
In this landscape, it’s a miracle any player worth trading would be able to meet the criteria. But if you have one, good luck to you both.