NBA Buyout Market Explained and Why Veterans Use It

Every February, a veteran you have not thought about in months suddenly signs with a contender, and the headline calls it a buyout. Then your group chat asks the obvious questions: why did his old team pay him to leave, why does he get to pick where he goes, and why did the team with the best record not grab him first? The NBA buyout market has its own rules and its own clock, and once you see them, the whole late-season shuffle makes a lot more sense.

Here is how buyouts work from the negotiation to the playoff roster, which teams can actually shop, and why I think the market gets more hype than it deserves.

What the NBA buyout market actually is

A buyout is a negotiated deal between a team and a player to end his contract early. The team agrees to release him, and the player agrees to give back part of the money he is still owed. He is then waived, and once he clears waivers he becomes a free agent who can sign anywhere.

The "market" is simply the window after the trade deadline when a cluster of these players become available at once. The deadline usually falls in early or mid February. Teams that did not find a trade for an unwanted veteran often turn to a buyout instead, and contenders that are out of trade options look at the buyout list as their last chance to add depth.

Why both sides agree to it

For the player, the logic is playing time and a shot at a ring. A 33-year-old sitting on the bench of a 20-win team would rather play 15 minutes a night for a contender. For the team, it clears a roster spot, ends an awkward situation, and saves a little money. The amount the player gives back is often close to what he expects to earn on a prorated minimum deal elsewhere, so in practice he ends up with about the same total pay.

The March 1 deadline and the waiver clock

Timing drives everything here. Two rules matter most:

Waivers last 48 hours. After a player is waived, any team can claim him, but the claiming team takes on his remaining contract. For most bought-out veterans earning several million dollars, nobody claims, and he becomes a free agent once the period ends.
Playoff eligibility. To be eligible for another team's playoff roster, a player has to be waived by March 1. Waived after that, he can still sign somewhere, but he cannot play in that season's playoffs for his new team.

That is why buyouts cluster in the two weeks after the trade deadline. A player who is bought out on February 28 is still in play. One bought out on March 2 is mostly useless to a contender.

Who can sign buyout players under the new CBA

This is where the 2023 collective bargaining agreement changed things. Teams above the first apron, the luxury tax tier just above the tax line, are not allowed to sign a player waived during the season if his pre-waiver salary was above the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which is around $12 to $13 million. The rule was designed to stop the richest rosters from scooping up quality veterans who were still being paid by someone else.

In practice, it means the best buyout players now tend to land with teams below the apron, while the most expensive contenders are limited to cheaper names. If you want the full picture of how those apron lines restrict roster building, our guide to the NBA second apron breaks down the tiers.

A team also needs an open roster spot. Contenders sometimes waive a young player or convert a deal to free up room, which is one reason you see quiet transactions involving two-way contracts around the deadline.

Buyouts that mattered

A few recent examples show both the appeal and the limits:

2021: Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge to Brooklyn. Griffin was bought out by Detroit and signed with the Nets, where he played real rotation minutes in the playoffs. Aldridge left San Antonio for Brooklyn too, though a heart issue ended his season after a few games.
2021: Andre Drummond to the Lakers. Cleveland bought him out, and he started for the Lakers down the stretch, but the defending champions still went out in the first round.
2023: Kevin Love to Miami. Love agreed to a buyout with Cleveland and joined the Heat, who reached the Finals that June. He started several playoff games and was one of the best buyout pickups in years.
2023: Russell Westbrook to the Clippers. After being traded to Utah, Westbrook was bought out and signed with the Clippers, starting at point guard for the rest of the season.

Why the buyout market is overrated

The common take every February is that a contender "won the buyout market" and just got much better. I am skeptical, for a simple reason: players reach the buyout market because their old team decided they were not worth keeping, and because no other team wanted to trade anything for them. Most are past their peak, coming off injury, or a poor fit for modern spacing.

Look at the list above. Love was a genuine hit, and Griffin helped. But Drummond did not change the Lakers' ceiling, and Aldridge played five games. In a typical season, most buyout signings end up in small bench roles by the playoffs, if they play at all. The real upgrades for contenders almost always come from trades made before the deadline.

Where buyouts do help is insurance. A ninth or tenth man who knows how to defend a set play is valuable when an injury hits in May. Think of a buyout signing as a backup plan, not a missing piece. That framing would save fans a lot of disappointment.

How fans can track buyout candidates

If you want to see the market coming, a few signals help:

Veterans on rebuilding teams with expiring contracts, especially those already out of the rotation.
Players whose teams said publicly they are "working with his representatives on a resolution."
Rebuilding teams with too many guaranteed contracts and young players who need minutes. Our piece on how the play-in tournament changed tanking explains why fewer teams are fully rebuilding than a decade ago, which shrinks the supply.
Contenders with an open roster spot and room under the first apron.

Watch for activity between the deadline and March 1. After that date, any move is about next season or about a player who simply wants to keep playing.

Frequently asked questions

Can a bought-out player re-sign with his old team?

Yes, though it rarely happens during the same season. The bigger restriction applies to teams that traded a player away, which generally cannot re-sign him soon after another team waives him. Most bought-out players move on to a contender instead.

Does the old team still pay a bought-out player?

Yes. The team still owes the remaining salary minus whatever the player agreed to give back, and that amount stays on its salary cap. Teams can sometimes spread the hit across future seasons using the stretch provision.

Why does a player give back money in a buyout?

Because it gets him released and lets him choose his next team. The amount is often similar to what he will earn on a prorated minimum contract with his new team, so his total pay for the season stays roughly the same.