RealGM

When a player is traded from team A to team B are they not allowed to return to team for a calendar year (365 days) or until the nba league year flips which I think is July 1?

Example: If a current player is traded on draft night but gets cut thereafter could they return to team A during the same off-season?

Calendar year. This came up with Samuel Dalembert in recent years.

The answer to the original question depends on the manner by which he might return to the original team and the nature of his contract.

A prohibition on a "trade back" to a prior team is only limited to the end of the NBA season (ie June 30) in which the trade away from that team occurred. There can never be a 365-day wait on that.

There can be a lengthier restriction on Team A signing a player they traded away, after he has subsequently been waived by Team B they traded him to, and become a free agent. (Teams used to prearrange to trade away a player, have the acquiring team waive him, and then pick him right back up as a free agent, in a boomerang fashion. Rules now prevent that.)
- If the player traded away is on an expiring contract, then the restriction of getting him again ends on June 30 (at the latest).
- But if (and only if) he still had multiple years left on his deal, there will be a one year wait before he can be WAIVED by Team B and signed by Team A after clearing waivers.

That only applies to a waiver off of Team B, however. If he is first traded from Team A to Team B, and then later Team B trades him to Team C, and then waived by C, the restrictions on signing him apply to team B but not to Team A even if within the same season, because Team A is not the team that traded him to Team C before the waiver.