- PREMIUM
- HOME
- NFL
Popular Pages
Transactions
Trending Players
AFC East
AFC North
AFC South
NFC East
NFC North
NFC South
- NBA
Popular Pages
Transactions
Trending Players
Southeast
Atlantic
Southwest
Northwest
- MLB
Popular Pages
Transactions
Trending Players
AL West
AL East
NL West
NL East
- NHL
Popular Pages
Transactions
Trending Players
Atlantic
Pacific
- WNBA
Popular Pages
Transactions
Trending Players
Eastern
- EPL
Popular Pages
Transactions
Trending Players
- MLS
Transactions
Trending Players
Eastern
- ATL Atlanta UnitedAtlanta United FC
- MTL MontrealCF Montreal
- CLT CharlotteCharlotte FC
- CHI FireChicago Fire
- CLB Columbus CrewColumbus Crew
- DC UnitedD.C. United
- CIN CincinnatiFC Cincinnati
- MIA Inter MiamiInter Miami FC
- NSH NashvilleNashville SC
- NE RevolutionNew England Revolution
- NYC New York CityNew York City FC
- RBNY Red BullsNew York Red Bulls
- ORL Orlando CityOrlando City
- PHI UnionPhiladelphia Union
- TOR TorontoToronto FC
Western
- ATX AustinAustin FC
- COL RapidsColorado Rapids
- DAL DallasFC Dallas
- HOU DynamoHouston Dynamo
- LA GalaxyLA Galaxy
- LAFC Los AngelesLos Angeles FC
- MIN MinnesotaMinnesota United FC
- POR TimbersPortland Timbers
- RSL Real Salt LakeReal Salt Lake
- SD San Diego FCSan Diego FC
- SJ EarthquakesSan Jose Earthquakes
- SEA SoundersSeattle Sounders FC
- SKC Kansas CitySporting Kansas City
- STL St. Louis CITYSt. Louis CITY SC
- VAN WhitecapsVancouver Whitecaps FC
- NWSL
Popular Pages
Transactions
Trending Players
- ACFC Angel City FCAngel City FC
- BFC Bay FCBay FC
- CHI Chicago Red StarsChicago Red Stars
- HOU Houston DashHouston Dash
- KC Kansas City CurrentKansas City Current
- GFC NJ/NY Gotham FCNJ/NY Gotham FC
- NC North Carolina CourageNorth Carolina Courage
- ORL Orlando PrideOrlando Pride
- POR Portland Thorns FCPortland Thorns FC
- LOU Racing Louisville FCRacing Louisville FC
- SD San Diego Wave FCSan Diego Wave FC
- SEA Seattle Reign FCSeattle Reign FC
- UTA Utah Royals FCUtah Royals FC
- WAS Washington SpiritWashington Spirit
- GOLF
Popular Pages
Trending Players
- TENNIS
ATP
WTA
- RACING
NASCAR CUP
FORMULA 1
- PVF
- OLYMPICS
NBA Trade Rules To Know As Trade Season Opens
Most NBA general managers will tell you that making trades are a complicated process. The fantasyification of sports, as well as the point-and-click nature of video games, sometimes has fans thinking that making a trade is easy.
The reality is NBA front offices talk trades every single day. Quite often a deal is bandied about months in advance of getting the tweet that it’s been agreed to. Most often, trade talks go nowhere.
The hardest part of making a trade is an obvious one: agreeing on the value heading both ways. But there are complicating factors even beyond that.
Many a time, the teams agree to the base parameters of a deal. Player X is going one way, while Player Y and draft picks are headed the other way. But sometimes that’s not enough to get a deal done. Both sides have to meet the salary-matching component in a trade, and that can get confusing and hard to understand.
Salary-matching in a trade makes signing a player by using cap space look like child’s play. If you have $20 million in available cap space and you want to sign a player, you can offer him up to $20 million. That’s pretty cut and dry.
For a trade to happen in the NBA, there are salary-matching rules that to be met. Let’s break those down.
Trading as a Taxpayer
10 teams are currently over the NBA’s tax line. Nine of them are pretty good bets to finish as taxpayers. Another eight teams are dancing around the tax line. So, over half of the NBA is around the tax as trade season opens.
That’s important because taxpayers have a different set of salary-matching rules than non-taxpayers do.
Taxpayers can take back 125% of the outgoing salary they send out plus $100,000. That means if a taxpayer sends out $20 million in salary, they can take back $25,100,000 in incoming salary.
The reason this is done is to limit how much money a taxpayer can take back in a trade to retain some semblance of competitive balance.
Trading as a Non-Taxpayer
A non-taxpayer has bands for how much salary they can return in a trade.
If a non-taxpayer sends out $1 to $6.5 million in a trade, they can bring back 175% of the outgoing salary plus $100,000.
If a non-taxpayer sends out between greater than $6.5 million in a trade and $19.6 million, they can bring back the outgoing salary plus $5 million.
If a non-taxpayer sends out greater than $19.6 million in a trade, they can bring back 125% of the outgoing salary plus $100,000.
This is done to bring some balance to what non-taxpayers can do in trade as opposed to taxpayers.
Important Note: The calculation as to whether a team is a taxpayer or non-taxpayer is always done post-trade. That means if a team is going from being under the tax to over the tax, how much money they can return via trade could possibly change.
Matching salary via other means
When a trade is made, each team is allowed to structure the trade in the best possible way for themselves. While we might get a deal reported as “Team 1 is trading Players X, Y and Z to Team 2 for Players A, B, C and D”, the actual structure of that deal might be far more complicated.
For example, Team 1 might have a Traded Player Exception (TPE) they are using to absorb Player D and only using salary-matching to trade for Players A, B and C. On the other side, Team 2 could be using the Minimum Exception to absorb Player X, while using salary-matching to bring on Players Y and Z. This type of structuring is often how TPEs are created.
Other Important Trade Rules
- Players who are making the Veteran Minimum can almost always be acquired via the Minimum Exception. That means no salary-matching needs to be used for them to be brought in. Note: something still needs to be sent to the trading team in the deal.
Inversely, if their salary is needed in a deal to make the salary-matching work, a team is allowed to include it as such.
- Players with a trade bonus can waive part or all of the trade bonus in order to meet the salary-matching rules.
- Draft picks always carry a value of $0 in trade. They are “extras” being added to a deal and have no impact on salary-matching.
- Players on a one-year contract with Bird or Early Bird rights after the contract expires (inclusive of an option year) have an implied no-trade clause. This is because those players lose those rights if traded under these circumstances. Two other players, Bradley Beal and Deandre Ayton, also have no-trade clauses. Beal’s is a full NTC, while Ayton’s is a temporary NTC. This year, the NTC list includes:
- Ryan Arcidiacono (New York Knicks)
- Deandre Ayton (Phoenix Suns - one-year NTC due to matched offer sheet)
- Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards - only full NTC)
- Bismack Biyombo (Phoenix Suns)
- Jevon Carter (Milwaukee Bucks)
- Kessler Edwards (Brooklyn Nets)
- Drew Eubanks (Portland Trail Blazers)
- James Harden (Philadelphia 76ers)
- Serge Ibaka (Milwaukee Bucks)
- Andre Iguodala (Golden State Warriors)
- Derrick Jones Jr. (Chicago Bulls)
- Nathan Knight (Minnesota Timberwolves)
- Wesley Matthews (Milwaukee Bucks)
- Rodney McGruder (Detroit Pistons)
- Mike Muscala (Oklahoma City Thunder)
- Theo Pinson (Dallas Mavericks)
- Each side has to give up something in a deal. Even in a straight salary dump trade, something has to go back the other way. This can be something as benign as a minor amount of cash ($110,000 is the minimum), a top-55 protected second round pick or draft rights to a player who is unlikely to come over to the NBA. The key is that all parties have to send something out. Trading a player for “nothing” isn’t actually a thing.
- In a multiple-team trade, each team must satisfy what is called the “touch rule”. The touch rule says that in a multiple-team trade, each team must touch at least two of the other teams in a deal. That can be as simple as sending cash, a protected pick or draft rights. But the touch rule must be satisfied by acquiring from or sending to at least two other teams in the deal.
- A handful of players can’t be traded due to various date-restrictions that don’t allow the player to be traded before the trade deadline. This season, that list includes:
- Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns)
- LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers)
- Stanley Johnson (San Antonio Spurs)
- Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
- Maxi Kleber (Dallas Mavericks)
- C.J. McCollum (New Orleans Pelicans)
- Larry Nance Jr. (New Orleans Pelicans)
- Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves)
- Dean Wade (Cleveland Cavaliers)
- Kemba Walker (Dallas Mavericks)
- Andrew Wiggins (Golden State Warriors)
- A Traded Player Exception (TPE) is created when one team takes back less money in salary-matching for one player than they send out. TPEs are not traded, but are used to absorb players into the TPE without having to use salary-matching. TPEs are often created when team’s do a deal as laid out under the “Matching salary via other means” section.
Related
CATEGORIES
- NBA 93
- NFL 67
- GOLF 55
- NWSL 48
- MLB 27
- NHL 1
AUTHORS
- Michael Ginnitti NFL, MLB
- Keith Smith NBA
- Scott Allen Contributor
- Taylor Vincent NWSL
2025 Free Agency – Offseason Unleashed
Most of the 2025 NWSL Free Agents have been signing with their previous clubs. That has recently changed with the signings of free agents to new clubs. Free Agency has truly began.
2025 MLB Offseason Contract Breakdowns
Spotrac details the largest free agent signings and contract extensions across MLB throughout the 2025 offseason. READ MORE
5 NFL Weekend Storylines
As the NFL calendar flips to December a quick look at 5 impactful storylines from the weekend of play, including the updated MVP conversation, a QB problem in Atlanta, & notable injuries.
Difficult Decisions Down In New Orleans
The New Orleans Pelicans currently have a 4-13 record and are last in the Western Conference Standings while being a taxpaying team. They have some difficult decisions ahead of them.
NFL 2025 Roster Bubble Candidates
Spotrac’s annual NFL Roster Bubble report identifies players that have the potential to be released, traded, or retire after the current 2024 season, including notable financial ramifications for each.
TRENDING PLAYERS
- 1 Jacob Trouba (D, ANA)
- 2 Shohei Ohtani (DH, LAD)
- 3 LeBron James (PF, LAL)
- 4 Stephen Curry (PG, GSW)
- 5 Shane Bieber (SP, CLE)
TRENDING PAGES
- 1 NFL Free Agents
- 2 NFL Transactions
- 3 NFL Salary Rankings
- 4 MLB Free Agents
- 5 NBA Trade Machine