The NBA Draft is one of the most exciting events on the annual schedule. Teams select in reverse order by the final standings, with the top-four selections chosen by lottery. Playoff teams are not in the lottery. The league breaks any ties soon after the regular season. Teams can trade or swap selections with [Read More]

Some NBA trades are more about money than basketball. While they may be less exciting, money deals are needed given the league's complex collective bargaining agreement with minimum team salaries and luxury taxes. A recent example was the January 5 deal sending Noah Vonleh from the Boston Celtics to the San Antonio Spurs. Vonleh, [Read More]

Teams generally prefer to stay under the NBA's luxury tax threshold ($150,267,000 for 2022-23) unless they're a championship contender. Some may have begun rebuilding (or aren't as good as they had hoped) but still have large contracts on the books that will soon expire. As the February 9 trade deadline nears, some franchises will [Read More]

When can NBA players extend their contracts, and for how much? As with most questions about the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement, the answer is "it depends." Is the player a first-round pick coming off their first contract? How long was the initial agreement? How many years are left on the deal? Did the player [Read More]

Bird Rights are a vital team-building component, enabling NBA franchises to re-sign players for larger and larger salaries. Named after Hall-of-Fame forward Larry Bird, Bird Rights come in three flavors based on how many consecutive seasons a player stays with the same team (in most cases, rights transfer with the player via trade). Non-Bird [Read More]