NBA Trade Rules Explained: Salary Cap, Matching Salaries, and CBA Basics
NBA trades are not as simple as swapping players. The salary cap, luxury tax, and CBA rules create a complex web of restrictions that determine which trades are possible. Here is a plain-English guide to how NBA trades actually work.
Salary matching
The most important rule in NBA trades: salaries must roughly match. Teams above the salary cap cannot take back significantly more salary than they send out. The exact rules depend on the team's salary situation, but the general principle is that you cannot use a trade to dramatically increase your payroll if you are already over the cap.
For teams above the cap, the incoming salary must be within 125% of the outgoing salary plus $100,000. So if you trade a player making $10 million, you can take back up to $12.6 million. This is why trades often include extra players or draft picks to make the salaries work.
The new CBA aprons
The 2023 CBA introduced two new tax thresholds called aprons. The first apron restricts teams from using certain trade exceptions and limits their ability to acquire players in trades. The second apron is even more restrictive — teams above it cannot aggregate salaries in trades, cannot take back more salary than they send out, and lose their taxpayer mid-level exception.
These aprons were designed to prevent super-teams by making it harder for high-spending teams to add talent through trades. They have already changed how teams approach roster construction.
Trade exceptions
When a team trades a player and receives less salary in return, they receive a trade exception equal to the difference. This exception can be used within one year to acquire a player in a separate trade without sending salary back. Trade exceptions are valuable assets — they give teams flexibility to make moves without disrupting their roster.
Draft pick rules
The Stepien Rule prevents teams from trading first-round picks in consecutive years. You must have a first-round pick in at least every other year. This rule was created after Ted Stepien, the former Cavaliers owner, traded away so many picks that the franchise was crippled for years. Pick swaps do not count as trading a pick, which is why teams use them as a workaround.