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Can a team trade an upcoming free agent as long as it is before July 1st.

Example. There is that story of LeBron possible going to Houston. Whether or not there is any legitimacy to that, I was trying to think of trade scenarios. Let's say LeBron wants to go to Houston. Let's say he will do something similar to what Chris Paul did. Opt in to his player option and force a trade to Houston.

Could Houston trade something like Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza and Tarik Black for LeBron? Ariza and Black are expiring contracts but my question is as long as they are traded before July 1st, aren't they technically still on the team and under the 2017-18 contract? And can Houston use them as expiring contracts to sell to Cleveland? Whether or not Cleveland would be interested in this is not my question. More so is it just technically possible.

TheBallDoLie wrote:Can a team trade an upcoming free agent as long as it is before July 1st.

Could Houston trade something like Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza and Tarik Black for LeBron? Ariza and Black are expiring contracts but my question is as long as they are traded before July 1st, aren't they technically still on the team and under the 2017-18 contract? And can Houston use them as expiring contracts to sell to Cleveland?

No. In May/June after season, they can trade a player only if he has a contract in place for future games. (Otherwise, you have nothing to trade.)
a - If all that exists is an option year, he can only be traded if that option year is exercised to be a definite season in place.
b - If all he has is a year with an ETO, the ETO must be declined before he can be traded.
c - If he has no year ahead, he can't be traded.

DBoys wrote:

TheBallDoLie wrote:Can a team trade an upcoming free agent as long as it is before July 1st.

Could Houston trade something like Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza and Tarik Black for LeBron? Ariza and Black are expiring contracts but my question is as long as they are traded before July 1st, aren't they technically still on the team and under the 2017-18 contract? And can Houston use them as expiring contracts to sell to Cleveland?

No. In May/June after season, they can trade a player only if he has a contract in place for future games. (Otherwise, you have nothing to trade.)
a - If all that exists is an option year, he can only be traded if that option year is exercised to be a definite season in place.
b - If all he has is a year with an ETO, the ETO must be declined before he can be traded.
c - If he has no year ahead, he can't be traded.

Thank you DBoys. Upon further research I found out everything you said yesterday. I am glad to know I researched that correctly and understood. Thank you for your response.