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NBA Free Agency 2018: What is the moratorium period?

By Bryan Toporek

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 1: DeAndre Jordan #6 of the LA Clippers looks on during the game against the Dallas Mavericks on November 1, 2017 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 1: DeAndre Jordan #6 of the LA Clippers looks on during the game against the Dallas Mavericks on November 1, 2017 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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NBA free agency begins on July 1, but contracts can’t become official until after the end of the July Moratorium on July 6.

At 12:01 a.m. ET on July 1, NBA free agents may begin negotiating with teams as they search for their next contracts. Thanks to the July Moratorium, however, neither side can put pen to paper until July 6 at noon ET.

During the moratorium period, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association conduct audits to help determine how much basketball related income (BRI) they expect to receive in the upcoming season. The two sides then set the salary cap using a formula that involves the amount of projected BRI for that year.

Free agents are allowed meet with teams during the moratorium, but no contract agreements can become official until the moratorium expires on July 6. This famously came back to bite the Dallas Mavericks in 2015, as DeAndre Jordan tentatively agreed to a contract with them during the moratorium only to back out later.

“It’s an imperfect system. There’s no question about it,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in an interview with NBA TV after the DeAndrama, according to ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne and Tim MacMahon. “The question is: Is there a better system? That’s something the league office and in discussions with the owners will always look to do things better.”

Following Jordan’s about-face, the NBA and NBPA agreed to shorten the moratorium in the most recent collective bargaining agreement. Whereas the date of the moratorium varied under the previous CBA, it now ends on July 6 every year, regardless of whether July 6 falls on a weekday or a weekend.

Restricted free agents can also come to terms on offer sheets during the moratorium, but their incumbent teams won’t be on the clock to match until after the moratorium ends. That often chills the market on RFAs at the start of free agency, as teams would effectively have to tie up that amount of cap space until noon on July 8 at the least.

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As Silver said in 2015, the moratorium isn’t a perfect system, but it does give free agents a few days to weigh a potentially life-changing decision before making anything official. It also thwarts teams that illegally contact free agents before July 1, as other teams still have five-plus days to make their best pitches.

When details about contract agreements begin circulating on Twitter at the start of July, keep the Jordan saga in mind. Nothing is official until pen gets put to paper, as the Mavericks can well attest.

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