NBA free agency will start a bit earlier than usual.
The NBA and NBA Players Association announced an agreement on Friday to modify the time that teams can begin negotiations with free agents. Previously, the official free agency start time was 12:01 a.m. ET on July first. The new agreement moves that up six hours to 6 p.m. ET on June 30th.
League rules state that teams can begin communicating with free agents and their representatives 24 hours prior to the free agency start time to schedule meetings with those players. That means those communications can now begin at 6 p.m. ET on June 29.
The NBA has official moved up the start of free agency to 6 PM ET on June 30
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 24, 2019While this is likely to have a negligible effect on actual negotiations, the new start time does make more logistical sense. Previously team representatives, players, and agents were forced to stay up well into the early morning hours because of the midnight free agency start time. Now, those initial negotiations can take place earlier in the evening.
From a Pelicans perspective, this is also unlikely to have much, if any, effect on possible Anthony Davis trade negotiations, other than allowing a deal to be announced a bit sooner than previously expected.
