NBA free agency might as well be over, but trade season isn’t

As evidenced by Kristian Winfield's latest roundup of the top players left on the board, NBA free agency is just about over. There are a few impact players — Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, for one — and some interesting cases like Nerlens Noel, who mystifyingly doesn't have a Mavericks contract yet. It's weird that he and JaMychal Green are lingering, for sure. But there aren't really any huge names out there beyond all that.

But that doesn't mean trade season is over. There are murmurs — none reported through the major news-breaking outlets — that the Knicks are in serious talks with the Rockets on a Carmelo Anthony deal. Who knows if the murmurs are true? But keep in mind that trades tend to happen in the middle of July as GMs are gathered in Las Vegas to watch the Alex Carusos of the world build a portfolio. This could be the week a big trade or two goes down.

There's a lot of unfinished business on NBA rosters. Too many teams are in line to pay the tax, and too many decent teams still have holes. After this week, things should really quiet down — especially without an intercontinental tournament to keep guys in Vegas for Team USA training. It's going to be a long summer whenever summer starts.

Reminder: NBA free-agent signing tracker and NBA free-agent and trade-rumor tracker.

I wrote about how weird restricted free agency can become and how that ruined Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's summer.

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