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Report: NBA to Allow All 30 Teams to Complete Transactions Ahead of Restart
June 8, 2020
All 30 NBA teams will be able to complete transactions beginning around June 22, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
This reportedly includes signing eligible free agents and converting two-way players into full NBA contracts.
Only 22 teams will return to play when the league resumes the 2019-20 season July 31, but every squad will have the opportunity to alter its roster during the upcoming "transaction window."
Roster flexibility could be important for teams that are competing, especially if a player tests positive for COVID-19 and has to be quarantined. Injuries after the long hiatus could also create a need.
Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks of ESPN reported teams are hoping to keep their two-way players with them for training in Orlando, Florida. Under normal circumstances, those players split time between the NBA and the G League, but now they would need to join the "bubble" at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
Teams could also convert those deals into NBA contracts, as the Oklahoma City Thunder would presumably do with guard Luguentz Dort, who has become a fixture in the starting lineup.
Meanwhile, teams hoping to turn things around for the 2020-21 campaign could get a head start. Atlanta Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce had previously explained the detriment of his team (20-47) missing out on competition.
"If the season is going to resume and we're still not a part of it, it hurts our growth, it hurts our product, it hurts our ability to continue the momentum that we need going into next season," Pierce told Rachel Nichols on ESPN's The Jump.
