Why NBA trade season officially starts today

Roughly one-third of the 2025-26 NBA season is over. With a chunk of the league's attention on the upcoming NBA Cup championship game on Tuesday, it can be easy to lose sight of simply how much basketball has been played, but the landscape of the campaign is certainly taking shape.

For some teams, that manifests with real optimism. The Detroit Pistons are a great example, boasting a sparkling 20-5 record and an active three-game winning streak. The New York Knicks, another Eastern Conference contender, are also rolling with a five-game winning streak and a date with the San Antonio Spurs in Las Vegas on Tuesday. In the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder are coming off an NBA Cup loss but, to be blunt, things are just fine with a 24-2 record and an utterly dominant profile.

Still, not everything is rosy around the league and, even for some teams in strong positions, the focus will shift more and more to the trade landscape as the early February deadline nears. In fact, national reporting has already begun to bubble on players like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis, and a key date on the NBA calendar has now arrived that could get things moving in the trade market.

Dec. 15 is a big day for tNBA trade season

The trade landscape is almost always quiet in the early going of an NBA season. Part of that is the nature of the calendar and the reality that "deadlines spur action," but part of it is also tied to the fact that recently signed free agents often cannot be traded. This year, more than 70 players were legally ineligible to be moved ... until Dec. 15.

It must be emphasized that a lot of these players aren't going to be traded and won't even pop up in trade rumblings. For example, Nickeil Alexander-Walker was arguably the best free agent signing of the summer and, just because he is eligible to be traded by the Atlanta Hawks does not mean that he will be. At the same time, there are a lot of big-name players that can be dealt now, plus a lot of players that could be included in various deals that need salary-matching to make everything work.

Houston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet is perhaps the most prominent example of a player who can now legally be traded. VanVleet has a $25 million salary that could be very useful for Houston in a number of trade scenarios, even acknowledging that he does have a de facto no-trade clause in that he can block any move if he chooses to do so. Houston's books are in good shape, but the Rockets don't have a ton of mid-tier money to move around, and VanVleet represents at least a possibility there.

Elsewhere, Luke Kennard could be an appealing matching salary ($11,000,000) on an expiring deal if the intriguing Hawks look to buy at the deadline. On the higher end, Julius Randle always seems to pop up in trade chatter, at least online, and his nearly $31 million salary is now eligible to be moved by the Wolves if things get weird.

Players eligible to be traded as of Dec. 15

Keep in mind than Jan. 15 is another important date for this same phenomenon, as nearly a dozen players across the league cannot be dealt until after that date due to the use of Bird or Early Bird Rights this summer. That list is headlined by perhaps the most speculated trade candidate outside of AD and Giannis -- Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga.

There has not been an NBA trade for about three months, and that drought may continue for a bit longer. However, things can heat up a lot easier now than they could on Dec. 14, and fans across the league are gearing up for silly season.

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