Deadlines and Commitments - No. 71

It's getting close to trade season and Billy King has said he has made "exploratory calls" aimed at improving the teams ... although it's hard to imagine being able to dramatically change things.

The first important date comes in three weeks with the expiration of two trade exceptions.  Here's the upcoming schedule of dates, including the expiration dates for the Nets trade exceptions.

December 12 -- Two trade exceptions, including the Nets biggest one expire. They are the $3,326,235 TE acquired in the Andrei Kirilenko trade and the $816,482 TE acquired in the Jorge Gutierrez trade.  For trade purposes, another $100,000 can be added to any TE's value. TE's cannot be combined, but under certain circumstances can be used to facilitate multi-player, multi-team deals.

December 15 -- All free agents signed during the off-season other than Brook Lopez can be traded.

December 23 -- Deron Williams returns to Barclays Center as a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

December 28 -- Deadline for Forest City Enterprises to pay its share of the current year's losses and three days before it converts to an REIT, requiring FCE to dump its ownership in the Nets. ... an ideal deadline for Mikhail Prokhorov and Bruce Ratner to work out a consolidation of ownership.

January 5 -- 10-day contracts can be signed.

January 10 -- All partially guaranteed contracts get fully guaranteed.  Donald Sloan is guaranteed only $200,000 on his $947,000 salary.

January 15 -- Brook Lopez and his max deal can be traded. NOT likely

February 1 -- The HSS Training Center will open around now in Industry City, Brooklyn.

February  18 -- Trade deadline, 3 p.m.

February 22 -- Euroleague playoff roster deadline. Players signed after this date cannot participate in the Euroleague playoffs

March 1 -- NBA's buyout deadline.  Players waived by this date, regardless of when they then sign elsewhere, remain playoff eligible.

April 15 -- NBA playoff roster deadline.

May 17 -- NBA Draft Lottery 2016.  Depending on where the Nets finish, and where the ping pong balls fall, this could be a  painful date in the Nets history.

June 27 -- NBA Draft. No first rounder.  Also, the trade exception of $1,357,080 from the Mason Plumlee trade expires.

July 13 -- Trade exception of $2,170,465 from the Steve Blake trade expires.