NBA dates, deadlines to watch in January

At the start of the 2021-22 campaign, we looked ahead and identified several dates and deadlines to watch on the NBA calendar this season. While that list covered the general highlights, it’s worth taking a closer look at some of those key dates to keep an eye out for in January, which should be a busy month.

Let’s dive in…

Non-guaranteed contracts become guaranteed

Jan. 10 is the date that all non-guaranteed NBA contracts for 2021-22 will officially become guaranteed, but Jan. 7 is really the day to watch. If a team wants to avoid having a salary become guaranteed, the player must clear waivers before Jan. 10, which means he needs to be cut by Jan. 7 — at the latest.

Many players without fully guaranteed salaries are in no danger of being waived by Friday, but some teams will take the opportunity to save a little money and open up a roster spot.

Teams can begin signing players to non-hardship 10-day contracts

There have already been far more 10-day signings completed this season than in a typical year, and technically the 10-day window hasn’t even opened yet.

The NBA has allowed teams this season to sign players to 10-day contracts using hardship exceptions when a club is missing players due to injuries or the health and safety protocols. As of January 5, teams will be able to sign players to non-hardship 10-day contracts, regardless of how many players are on the club’s injury report.

These non-hardship 10-day deals will count against team salary for cap and tax purposes and will require an opening on the 15-man roster to complete.

We extensively outlined the details of 10-day contracts and explained how they work in our glossary entry on the subject.

More players become trade-eligible

A huge percentage of the NBA’s offseason signees became eligible to be traded back on Dec. 15, but there are still many players who can’t be dealt. By the end of the month, that list of players ineligible to be traded will shrink further, since there are 28 players currently on track to have those restrictions lift between now and Jan. 31.

Jan. 15 is the key date, with 19 players becoming trade-eligible as of that Saturday. That group includes some players who almost certainly aren’t going anywhere, such as John Collins and Jarrett Allen. But a handful of players on that list could be involved in trade rumors in 2022, including Talen Horton-Tucker and Josh Hart.

A number of other offseason signees have unique trade-eligible dates in January, since they were signed sometime after September 15 or inked an offseason extension. That list features names both big (Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Kevin Durant) and small (Ed Davis, Jabari Parker and Armoni Brooks).

Other odds and ends

There are a few other dates in January that are worth mentioning, despite the fact that they’ll likely come and go without much fanfare.

On Jan. 10, mid-level and room exceptions – along with other cap exceptions like the bi-annual exception – will start to prorate for the year, meaning a team with its full room exception available would no longer be able to offer the full $4.91M amount to a free agent. Exceptions will decline in value by 1/174th per day, starting on Jan. 10.

Jan. 15 is the last day that teams can apply for a disabled player exception to replace an injured player who is deemed unlikely to return this season. A disabled player exception can give a club extra cap flexibility, though that team may still have to open up a roster spot to add a player using its DPE. Only the Pelicans have received a DPE so far this season.

In past seasons, Jan. 15 was also the deadline for a team to sign a player to a two-way contract, but there’s no deadline for those deals this year. However, on Jan. 20, all players on two-way contracts will have their minimum salaries for the season become fully guaranteed.