NBA Trendspotting
Even a one-year contract in today's NBA, in many cases, requires a sacrifice from the contract recipient
Reminder: There are only two full no-trade clauses in today's NBA.
One is possessed by the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James. The other belongs to Portland's Damian Lillard.
The reason, as we've discussed many times over the years, is that no-trade clauses are very difficult to obtain in the NBA. They require a player to have at least eight seasons of service time ... and four with the same team awarding the no-trade clause ... and to be negotiating a new contract rather a contract extension. NTCs, as they are known in NBA shorthand, can't be added to a contract extension.
We're also in the heart of an era, remember, when almost any player you ask leaguewide would rather sign a contract extension than go to free agency.
Teams leaguewide, for their part, seem to dread the no-trade clause more than ever. You surely remember how problematic Bradley Beal's NTC proved for Phoenix last season; not until July and some very spiky buyout discussions could the Suns finally extricate themselves from the onerous Beal deal they acquired from Washington in June 2023 to ultimately steer Beal to a new deal in free agency with the LA Clippers.
All of the above feeds into an interesting trend you should be aware of that intensified this offseason: Numerous players who signed one-year deals with their previous teams were asked to relinquish their veto rights on trades for the coming season via what is known as the One-Year Bird restriction.
It is not the same as a full no-trade clause, but the One-Year Bird restriction is often referred to as an "implied" no-trade clause.
Example: Golden State re-signed restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga to a two-year deal that can rise as high in value as $48.5 million ... but Kuminga was asked by the Warriors to waive his implied no-trade clause to secure the dollar figures he ultimately got. (The 23-year-old is classified as a One-Year Bird in this case because Year 2 of Kuminga's new deal is a team option.)
And Kuminga was by no means alone. I asked my pal Keith Smith to help me compile a list of every One-Year Bird this offseason who agreed to waive their implied no-trade clause as part of a new contract and we came up with more than 15 names:
Bismack Biyombo (Spurs)
Dante Exum (Mavericks)
Anthony Gill (Wizards)
Eric Gordon (76ers)
Jeff Green (Rockets)
Jaxson Hayes (Lakers)
Bones Hyland (Timberwolves)
Kuminga (Warriors)
Chris Livingston (Bucks)
Doug McDermott (Kings)
Jordan McLaughlin (Spurs)
Kevin Porter Jr. (Bucks)
Day'Ron Sharpe (Nets)
Garrett Temple (Raptors)
Gary Trent Jr. (Bucks)
Ziaire Williams (Nets)
Everyone on that list will be eligible to be traded before the Feb. 5 trade deadline because they have surrendered their right to veto trades this season.
Slightly shorter, by contrast, is the list of One-Year Birds — which includes players such as James Harden and Fred VanVleet who signed two-year deals with a player or team option in Year 2 — who retained the right to veto any swap their teams propose before the Feb. 5 trade deadline because a trade would cost them their Bird rights:
Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
Nicolas Batum (Clippers)
Collin Gillespie (Suns)
Quentin Grimes (76ers)
James Harden (Clippers)
Aaron Holiday (Rockets)
Joe Ingles (Timberwolves)
Kyle Lowry (76ers)
Gary Payton II (Warriors)
Landry Shamet (Knicks)
Jericho Sims (Bucks)
Jae'Sean Tate (Rockets)
Cam Thomas (Nets)
Fred VanVleet (Rockets)
Mortiz Wagner (Magic)
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Film Session
I spent last week in Vancouver covering Mavericks training camp for DLLS Sports. Two quickie reflections on the trip:
Loved, loved, loved being back in British Columbia for the first time in I can't remember how long. It was always one of my favorite stops on the NBA map when the Grizzlies played there and it proved to be a wonderful place (with a welcome climate this time of year) to nurse my goodbye-to-England hangover after two glorious soccer-watching excursions this summer. I always seem to find items and customs reminiscent of Inglaterra on my Canadian travels. So yeah: Zero argument from me that Dallas decided that it wanted to hold camp some 1,800 miles away from home.
The nearest store to my hotel selling NBA gear had a fairly predictable rack of jerseys on offer in its prime display ... filled with old Mike Bibby Grizzlies jerseys and featuring Canada's two MVPs. The graphic next to it is our DLLS Sports promo card for the trip. ICYMI: Sharing one-on-one interviews I conducted on the trip with Rookie of the Year favorite Cooper Flagg and Mavericks coach Jason Kidd:
