It’s almost two weeks since Joe Mazzula’s Boston Celtics made history by becoming the most successful franchise in NBA history, securing a record 18th title after beating Dallas 4-1. With that still fresh in the memory, it’s time for another key moment of the season for the league’s 30 teams.
The 2024 NBA Draft took place last Thursday, with Bronny James drafted by the Lakers and Zaccharie Risacher heading to Atlanta as the No.1 pick after a heady night unfolded at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The No.2 pick Alex Sarr was selected by the Washington Wizards while the Memphis Grizzlies picked up Zach Edety.
The draft is important because, once it is concluded, we can move on to the next stage of the calendar – the Free Agency Moratorium. This is the negotiation period when players contracts expire, leaving them eligible to sign for a new team – or, alternatively, strike an extension with their current one.
Each NBA team may begin negotiating with upcoming free agents who finished the just-completed season on its roster from the day following the completion of the previous season – i.e. the day after the last game of the finals, which this year was Tuesday 18 June (Game 5 of the finals was on Monday 17th).
The free agency moratorium period allows teams to sign players and make strategic changes to their rosters head of the next campaign.
This year’s Free Agency will begin on Sunday, June 30 at 6 p.m. ET. That’s the date when teams will officially be able to begin negotiating with prospective free agents, although it’s well-known that these discussions happen during the season and some deals are announced even before the free agency period. However, while deals can be agreed, nothing can be signed just yet.
Notable cases this year include Pascal Siakam, who has agreed new terms with the Pacers; and Malik Monk, who will be staying on for another four years with the Kings.
However, both players, along with the rest of the free agents who have struck new deals will have to wait until Saturday 6 July to officially sign their contracts. Each NBA team may begin signing free agents to contracts from Saturday 6 July at 12:01 a.m. EDT. That six-day period is used by the league to calculate revenue to set next season’s salary-cap number.
There will be some top free agents this summer, like Paul George, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, D’Angelo Russell and Klay Thompson among others.
