From the high-stakes Giannis saga to draft-night blockbusters, the league’s landscape shifts starting June 23. Prepare for a chaotic period of deadlines, salary updates, and roster-altering decisions.
As the NBA Finals are coming to an end, fans for teams across the league are now turning their focus to the offseason. While there’s plenty of trade rumors to entertain ourselves with, I’m sad to say we’ll still likely have to wait a while until anything actually happens.
The first big date of the offseason will be on June 23rd, which is the start of the 2026 NBA Draft. This is also the deadline Milwaukee Bucks' co-owner Jimmy Haslam set to hopefully end their dramatic Giannis saga.
While the decorated veteran could choose to sign an extension in the weeks before then, there’s been no movement yet. Even if he were to get traded before the draft, it’s unlikely anything would become official for multiple weeks.
There’s new players coming in through the draft and team/player option deadlines on June 29th. Player’s contracts and the league-wide salary cap will be updated for the new season in early July when the Free Agency Moratorium starts.
For reference, KD was reportedly traded to the Houston Rockets on June 22nd last summer, three days before the draft. The trade wasn’t official until two weeks later on July 6th.
There’s just so many moving pieces and so much money moving around at this point of the offseason.
It usually results in an odd little period, so be patient and be prepared. Don’t be too shocked if we see something like Alperen Şengün in an OKC Thunder hat on draft night.
