Free Agency Day 1. Moratorium begins 3pm.

In theory, bargaining starts. But usually news comes right away.

Warriors Nation @WarriorNationCP

Warriors free agency update on Kevon Looney, Gary Payton II, Otto Porter Jr. is complete mixed bag.

clutchpoints.comRUMOR: FA Update On Looney, Payton II, Otto Is Mixed BagThe Golden State Warriors reached summit and will reign atop the NBA until next season. But just as NBA championship team must do, the offseason will be spent trying to keep the roster in place. When your squad just outlasted 29 other teams, abiding “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is definitely an…

Wild Guesses

• My guess is there will be no news on Looney or GP2 on Day 1. This is their chance to get initial offers and also see what happens when teams strike out on their first targets and have extra money to spend.

Background Info on Free Agency

• Apricot’s Free Agency Guide

• Perks’s Off-Season Questions

• We might have another piece coming by Perks on Free Agent targets if he has time to do it.

When Is Free Agency?

The Reality

Free agency signings will be announced starting Day 1 of the Moratorium period (Thu Jun 30, 3pm - Wed Jul 6, 9:01am).

For context, in 2021:

• within the first few hours of Day 1, half the Warriors’ free agent targets had already been signed by the Lakers. (Excuse me while I smile and smile about this from the comfort of summer 2022.)

• Otto Porter Jr’s signing news came at 9pm of Day 1 (Aug 2 2021)

• Nemanja Bjelica’s signing news came around 9:30am of Day 2

• Andre Iguodala signing news came Aug 6, after the moratorium.

The Actual Rules

In THEORY and by rule, teams cannot start negotiating with players until:

• June 30, 3:00pm Pacific. Official start of league year and free agency moratorium when no agreements can be made. Teams can start negotiating with players and not before. The moratorium gives all teams a chance to meet with any free agent, so it’s not a race.  

• July 6, 9:01am Pacific: Free agency moratorium ends; teams officially can begin signing players and complete trades.

In reality, free agency negotiations are happening at all times, through intermediaries. The league turned a blind eye to this because of the difficulty of enforcement, but teams flouted the rules to ridiculous extents. Regularly, reports would come out on free agency agreements in the first minutes of the moratorium. The league finally had to crack down on MIL for announcing a sign-and-trade within minutes, and MIA and CHI for a complex three person sign-and-trade.

The practical result of this is to expect most free agency signings to be announced starting Day 1 of the moratorium.

These moratorium agreements are not binding of course, but it’s major news if someone backs out of the agreement (for instance the absurdly funny DeAndre Jordan situation in 2015, still my favorite NBA Twitter real-time saga).