Wednesday is Dec. 15, which means that – by our count – 106 NBA players who signed as free agents this offseason have officially become eligible to be traded.
That list, which can be found right here, features a number of players who absolutely aren’t going anywhere this season, including Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan, Clippers star Kawhi Leonard and Suns guard Chris Paul, among others.
However, it also features several players whose names have already popped up in trade rumors in the months since they were signed, such as Celtics guard Dennis Schröder, Rockets center Daniel Theis, Spurs sharpshooter Bryn Forbes and Knicks guard Kemba Walker.
Nineteen of the players on the list can’t be traded without their consent, since they have the ability to veto trades this season. Multiple players from the Nets, Nuggets, Pistons, Heat, Bucks and Suns fall into that group.
Finally, it’s worth noting that there are still many recently-signed players around the NBA who remain ineligible to be dealt. Some will become trade-eligible on Jan. 15, while others have specific dates to watch.
Of course, while Dec. 15 is considered the unofficial start of the NBA’s trade season, we shouldn’t expect a flurry of deals in the coming days. Typically, teams wait until closer to the trade deadline (February 10) to make their moves.
To illustrate this point, let’s take a look back at the last five seasons in which a huge swath of players became trade-eligible on Dec. 15 (we’re throwing out the 2020-21 campaign, since the delayed start to the condensed season meant that the usual Dec. 15 deadline didn’t actually arrive until February).
From the 2015-16 season through the 2019-20 campaign, a total of just three trades were completed between Dec. 15 and the end of the calendar year on Dec. 31. One of those three deals – the Jordan Clarkson trade between the Cavaliers and Jazz on Dec. 23, 2019 – didn’t involve any players whose trade restrictions had recently lifted.
The only two instances in recent years in which teams moved relatively quickly after Dec. 15 to deal newly trade-eligible players occurred in 2015, when the Pelicans sent Ish Smith to the Sixers on Dec. 24, and in 2018, when the Suns sent Trevor Ariza to the Wizards on Dec. 17.
The original three-team version of that Ariza deal memorably fell apart due to a mixup over whether Dillon Brooks and MarShon Brooks was included, which perhaps served as a cautionary tale for front offices, encouraging them not to rush into anything right after Dec. 15.
The league’s recent trade history doesn’t mean we won’t see any trades this month, but if we get more than one or two, it would be an exception to the rule. We should expect more activity in January and February, even as talks start to heat up in December.
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