How the Dec. 15 Unofficial Start of NBA Trade Season Impacts the Sixers

On Dec. 15, NBA trade season unofficially—and perhaps officially—begins.

Most players who signed with teams in free agency this past offseason are now trade-eligible. A handful of players around the league can't be traded until Jan. 15, including Quentin Grimes, but everyone else on the Sixers' roster is now fair game.

The Sixers are entering trade season with one open roster spot, which they could use in a few different ways. They could take back one more player than they send out in a trade, take someone into that open spot with a salary-cap exception or not use it at all on a trade and instead reserve it for converting Dominick Barlow or Jabari Walker from a two-way deal to a standard contract. The world is their oyster.

Where the Sixers Stand Heading Into Trade Season

The Sixers currently have nearly $194.9 million on their books for apron purposes. That leaves them less than $1.1 million below the $159.9 million first apron and $12.9 million under the $207.8 million second apron. They aren't hard-capped at either apron yet, which means they are allowed to exceed either threshold for the time being. However, they need to proceed carefully with trades given their proximity to the first apron.

If the Sixers take back more salary than they send out in a trade or use the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, they'd become hard-capped at the first apron. So, while they're technically allowed to take back more salary than they send out in a trade, they're functionally limited by being less than $1.1 million below the first apron.

The Sixers are far enough below the second apron that they do still have access to the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception, which they could use a few different ways. They could spend it on a free agent, use it to convert Barlow and/or Walker, or use it as a trade exception to take back someone earning up to $5.7 million without having to send out any salary.

Which Sixers Are Now Trade-Eligible?

While every Sixers player aside from Grimes becomes trade-eligible on Dec. 15, there are a few notable caveats.

For one, players who sign one-year contracts and have either Early Bird or full Bird rights automatically get the right to veto any trade. However, players do have the ability to waive that right when they sign their contract. According to Spotrac, the Sixers got Eric Gordon to do exactly that when he re-signed with them this past summer. However, Kyle Lowry still has his implicit no-trade clause, so he's unlikely to go anywhere else this year.

Grimes would be the Sixers' most obvious trade candidate after he failed to reach a long-term deal with the team this past summer as a restricted free agent. The problem is that he also has an implicit no-trade clause after taking his one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer. If the Sixers do trade him elsewhere, his full Bird rights would not travel with him to his next team. Unless his new team had cap space or the non-taxpayer MLE, the most it could offer him as the starting salary of a new contract is 120 percent of what he's earning this year, which is nearly $10.5 million.

Had the Sixers signed Grimes to a longer-term deal in the $15-20 million-per-year range, they might be more of a factor in trade season. Instead, their books aren't exactly conducive to making a major move. They have three massive salaries in Joel Embiid ($55.2 million), Paul George ($51.7 million) and Tyrese Maxey ($38.0 million), but VJ Edgecombe is their fourth-highest-paid player at $11.1 million.

Unless a team is willing to take the risk on Embiid or George, the Sixers don't have the mid-sized contracts to land someone like New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III ($25.0 million) if he becomes available.

Could The Sixers Make a Trade on Dec. 15?

The NBA's latest collective bargaining agreement included one notable change that incentivizes teams to make trades as soon as the Dec. 15 window opens.

Normally, if a team acquires a player via a salary-cap exception—aka, not into cap space—it cannot aggregate that player's contract with another contract for 60 days. Since the Feb. 5 trade deadline is less than two months away, that would typically prohibit anyone acquired after Dec. 15 from being aggregated again this season. However, the new CBA scraps the aggregation prohibition for any player acquired on or before Dec. 16. They're fair game to get aggregated before the trade deadline, which wasn't the case in the previous CBA.

The Sixers theoretically could make a deal Monday or Tuesday and fill their lone remaining open roster spot, although they typically prefer to maintain their optionality until the trade deadline. Besides, if they're eventually hoping to convert Barlow and/or Walker from a two-way deal, filling that open roster spot would make that more difficult down the road.

Never say never, but it seems more likely than not that the Sixers won't take advantage of the Dec. 16 aggregation loophole and will keep their powder dry until closer to the actual trade deadline.