Top 5 Buyout Candidates Post-Trade Deadline

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, next up in the NBA is the buyout market. There are a couple of rotation-worthy players available. The one important caveat is that players who were making more than the non-taxpayer midlevel exception ($12.4 million) before being waived cannot sign with teams that were above the first tax apron.

So these 7 teams cannot sign a big-money player on the buyout market:

Boston Celtics
Denver Nuggets
Golden State Warriors
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
Phoenix Suns
LA Clippers

The following teams can’t sign players off the buyout market who were making at least $12.4 million:

Bucks
Celtics
Clippers
Heat
Nuggets
Suns
Warriors

Buyout candidates who can’t sign with these teams: Kyle Lowry, Spencer Dinwiddie, Evan Fournier, Davis Bertans, Marcus Morris,… pic.twitter.com/esCgpjM1WI
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) February 9, 2024

To put that in context, of the remaining contenders in the league, the Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder are eligible to sign the first two guys on our list below.

With that, here are the top 5 available players on the buyout market:

Spencer Dinwiddie, Toronto Raptors (via Brooklyn Nets)
Kyle Lowry, Charlotte Hornets
Killian Hayes, Detroit Pistons
Marcus Morris, San Antonio Spurs
Thaddeus Young, Brooklyn Nets (via Raptors)

To be clear, Lowry has not yet been officially waived as of this writing, but it's almost a certainty. He has no desire to play out the string in Charlotte, and he deserves to get a chance with a contender down the stretch.

Dinwiddie would be the real score here. He can still play, averaging 12.6 points and 6.0 assists, though his shooting percentages were way off this year, at just 39% from the field, and a mere 32% from long distance.

Hayes had fallen out of favor in Detroit, but a recent No. 7 overall pick at just 22 years old, there's still some upside for a young team to take a chance on.

Morris and Thad would just be some frontcourt depth for the end of a team's bench.

There are other names who still could join the market; we'll be keeping any eye on it for you.

Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports