December 15 marks the unofficial beginning of trade season in the NBA. That’s because it is the first day most of last offseason’s free agents can finally be traded. It’s also when teams have more flexibility toward aggregating multiple minimum-salary players. The new CBA added restrictions for trading minimum players, but looser aggregation rules over the next two months allow for more trade possibilities.
Trades in December or even January rarely happen. Teams are starting to understand where they stand in the league, but it’s still early to definitively know which direction to take regarding trades. Also, a handful of players still don’t become trade-eligible until January 15, and some become eligible later than that because they signed contracts so late into the offseason. The trade market will really open up in the weeks coming up to the deadline once all recent free agents can actually be traded.
Here are four teams that will officially enter the trade market this month.