NBA will open 1-week transaction window in June, per reports

Details are emerging as the NBA discusses with its teams how they can manage rosters before and after entering a bubble at Disney World in Orlando for an eight-game resumption of the 2019-20 regular season.

Some of those roster maneuvers could come soon.

ESPN reports that there will be a one-week transaction window, likely from June 22 until July 1, that will allow all 30 NBA teams to make moves.

The 22 teams involved in a restart to the season can max their rosters out at 15 players, including two-way players who would need to have their contracts converted. The window will allow teams to waive a player or sign a player, though additions will likely be limited to a pool of NBA free agents or players under G League contracts.

Similarly, that limited group of players could be available to be signed by a team if an injury occurs or a player tests positive for coronavirus during the gathering in Orlando. From ESPN’s Bobby Marks:

Playoff rosters will consist of 15 players: 13 active and two inactive. When the playoffs start, teams can replace any player who tests positive for COVID-19 with a substitute player. This new player would be subject to the same quarantine rules.

It appears that the NBA will not allow a player to return to the bubble if a team substitutes for him, meaning teams will need to weigh the timeline of waiting out a positive coronavirus test during the postseason and the ensuing quarantine period of at least seven days versus adding a new body to the roster for the remainder of the season.

If a star player like the Lakers’ LeBron James or the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo tests positive, it is more likely a team continues on without adding to the roster.

What does all that mean for the Phoenix Suns, who have a daunting hill to climb to make the postseason with only eight regular season games guaranteed?

The good news for them is that their roster appears nearly intact and healthy. Owner Robert Sarver told Burns & Gambo on Arizona Sports last week that the Suns expect forwards Kelly Oubre Jr. (meniscus) and Frank Kaminsky (knee-cap fracture) to be ready to play when the regular season is expected to tip off on July 31.

That puts the Suns’ roster at 14 players.

They could reach the maximum in-house by converting rookie forward Tariq Owens’ deal from a two-way contract. Phoenix released point guard Jared Harper, its other two-way player this year, just after the season ended.

Or Phoenix could look outside the organization to bring in a player from the G League or the NBA free agent pool.

However, with the goal of using the eight games to learn just a little more about the current mix of players, who have rarely been healthy at the same time in 2019-20, it’s not expected the Suns will do anything surprising unless a player is determined not to be healthy in the next few weeks.

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