NBA Insider: Trade market is ‘stiff’ due to salary caps and new CBA rules

If you’re expecting big trades to happen in the coming weeks before February’s deadline, you might want to think again. A combination of new CBA rules, the value of draft picks and salary cap constraints are factors that are contributing to the fact that negotiating nowadays in the NBA has become a challenge. 

As best described by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, the trade market has become “stiff” this year. The NBA insider explained how conversations between agents, executives, scouts and club personnel have mostly focused on finding solutions around these limiting trade restrictions to trade stars around the league.

“Unless big salary players are being swapped for each other, it’s hard to see a huge star making a move in the next month,” Bontemps said recently, noting the fact that the NBA announced its salary cap for the 2024-25 season in July, setting it at $140.588 million, with the tax level established at $170.814 million.

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However, we must take into consideration that the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement outlines three distinct Mid-Level Exceptions based on a team’s salary situation. For example in this campaign, the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level is set at $12.822 million, while Taxpayer Mid-Level is $5.168 million and the Mid-Level for clubs with cap space is $7.983 million.

This limitations are coupled with the narrow draft capital that is made available to many big market NBA teams, making it even more difficult to complete negotiations for trades.

According to Bontemps, despite the ‘stiffness’ of the current market, there is one player he feels that almost for certain will be traded out during this window. The most significant athlete on the move could be New Orleans forward Brandon Ingram, who has fallen to injury again at the start of this season.

The Pelicans are currently holding the worst record in the league (7-29), while Brandon is approaching unrestricted free agency. The team is in a position in which they “cannot afford to be picky,” as said by ESPN’s Kevin Pelton.

“Anything better than what the Pelicans could get this summer in a sign-and-trade would still be a win, given their payroll issues going forward,” he wrote, while colleague Michael Wright added: “Multiple teams are reportedly showing interest, but they’ll likely wait to see how he looks returning from injury, and they’ll want to be certain he’s ready for the second half of the season.”