The NBA’s trade deadline for the 2026/27 season will land on Thursday, February 11 at 3:00 pm Eastern time, according to the league’s official list of key upcoming dates (hat tip to Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron).
With the exception of the 2020/21 NBA league year, which started later than usual due to COVID, this season will have the latest trade deadline since 2016/17. That was the last year in which the deadline fell during the Thursday after the All-Star Game instead of two Thursdays before it.
The Feb. 11 deadline is worth highlighting at this time due to how it will affect players who sign veteran contract extensions for the rest of the 2026/27 league year. When a player signs a veteran extension, he may become ineligible to be traded for six months if his new deal meets certain criteria.
That means any player who signs a veteran extension between now and next Tuesday (August 11) will be trade-eligible at this season’s deadline, regardless of whether or not the six-month restriction applies to him. But any player who signs a veteran extension after next Tuesday will be ineligible to be traded this season if his new deal meets any of the following criteria:
His current contract and new extension exceed four years in total.
His starting salary on the extension is worth more than 120% of the final-year salary on his current deal (or 120% of the NBA’s estimated average salary, for a player earning below the average).
His salary increases or decreases by an amount greater than 5% between the first and second years of the extension (or in any subsequent seasons).
His current contract is renegotiated as part of the extension.
Celtics big man Neemias Queta is an example of a recently extended player who meets one or more of these criteria. He’s now under contract for five years in total and will get 8% annual raises on his new contract with Boston. That means Queta is ineligible to be traded for six months, but because his deal was finalized on July 6, his trade restrictions will lift on January 6, well before this season’s deadline.
This six-month restriction doesn’t apply to players who sign rookie scale extensions. They can be traded immediately, though the poison pill provision might make it difficult to do so.
Players who sign veteran extensions that don’t meet any of the criteria above are also eligible to be traded immediately. Another Celtic, forward Jordan Walsh, is one player who falls into this category. The three-year extension he signed last month resulted in him being under contract for four years in total; additionally, his new deal starts below the NBA’s estimated average salary and features 5% annual raises. As a result, no trade restrictions currently apply to Walsh.
November 11 is another date worth keeping in mind now that the trade deadline for 2027 is officially set. A free agent who signs with an NBA team after Nov. 11 won’t become trade-eligible this season, since players who sign free agent contracts can’t be dealt for at least three months.
That shouldn’t be a concern for top remaining free agents like Jalen Duren, James Harden, Peyton Watson, Jonathan Kuminga, and DeMar DeRozan, each of whom figures to finalize a new contract well before the regular season begins in October.