2020-2021 AROUND the NBA: Archived

[Kammrath]

Virtually all of the NBA’s usual annual deadlines will have to be adjusted for the 2020/21 league year. In addition to the handful of new dates that we passed along this morning, many more adjustments have been reported over the course of the day. Here are several of the key ones:

• The deadline for teams to issue qualifying offers to players who are eligible for restricted free agency will be [b]November 19[/b], according to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
  
  
• Virtually every traded player exception that had initially been set to expire in July will now expire on [b]November 23[/b] or [b]November 24[/b], tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. That includes the [b]Warriors[/b]‘ $17.2MM TPE, which expires on Nov. 23, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
  
  
• The deadline to waive a player and stretch his 2020/21 salary will be [b]December 9[/b], per Pincus (Twitter link). After that date (which is normally August 31), players who are waived can still have guaranteed salaries in 2021/22 and beyond stretched, but their ’20/21 cap figures will remain unchanged.
  
  
• The deadline for teams to exercise third- and fourth-year 2021/22 options for players on rookie scale contracts will be [b]December 29[/b], tweets Pincus. This deadline usually falls at the end of October.
  
  
• Free agents signed this offseason can’t be traded before [b]February 6[/b], while players who meet certain criteria (re-signed with their own over-the-cap team via Bird or Early Bird rights and got a raise of at least 20%) can’t be traded until [b]March 3[/b], per Pincus (Twitter link). These dates are typically December 15 and January 15.
  
  
• The leaguewide salary guarantee date – normally January 10 – will be [b]February 27[/b] this season, tweets Pincus. A team that wants to avoid being on the hook for a guarantee will have to cut the player by [b]February 24[/b] so he clears waivers before the deadline.
  
  
• Players will have to be waived on or before [b]April 9[/b] (not March 1) in order to retain playoff eligibility for a new team, tweets Pincus.
  
  
• The 2020/21 league year will conclude on [b]August 1[/b] (instead of June 30), tweets Pincus. The 2021/22 league year will begin on [b]August 2[/b].
  

Here are a few more details on newly-announced adjustments for the 2020/21 season:

• For initial waiver claim priority, the NBA will use the standings as of March 11, 2020, tweets Pincus. That means if a player hits waivers next week, the [b]Warriors[/b] will have top claiming priority and the [b]Bucks[/b] will be last on the list.
  
  
• Instead of the usual 177 days, the NBA’s 2020/21 season will be 146 days, tweets Pincus. That means, for instance, that a player who signs a 10-day contract will receive 10/146ths of the minimum salary instead of 10/177ths.
  
  
• Two-way players won’t be limited to 45 days on their NBA teams’ rosters this season, but they won’t be able to be activated for more than 50 games. They’ll receive salaries worth $449,115, per Pincus (Twitter link).