u/soilentgleem

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7395316/2026/06/26/lamelo-ball-trade-timberwolves-anthony-edwards-fit-background/?source=user\_shared\_article&unlocked\_article\_code=1.tFA.HQiq.NYlwoz8XV7Wf

The Timberwolves explored multiple avenues to add another star next to Edwards in the days leading up to landing Ball. There were discussions with the Chicago Bulls about Josh Giddey. They had talks with the Boston Celtics about Jaylen Brown, a team source said, but the Celtics were looking for a package including Gobert, Reid and similar pick compensation that went to Charlotte for Ball, team sources said. That was just too much for the Wolves to pay for a soon-to-be 30-year-old forward who, while being a better overall player than Ball, wasn’t as clean a fit next to Edwards.

I'm going to preface this by saying I am neither a CBA expert, nor a lawyer. So if someone who knows more about the CBA or is better at reading legal documents than I am, can (politely) correct me if I'm mistaken, then your corrections are welcome. Then we can all laugh at how dumb I was haha

I was thinking about how the Pistons could both retain Tobias Harris at a price that is reasonable for their roster moving forward, and simultaneously make the contract they offer him competitive with other hypothetically larger offers from other teams. One thing I thought about is offering him a no trade clause in exchange for a longer contract with a reduced Average Annual Value (AAV).

The trick here though is that to qualify for a no trade clause, a player must have both 8 years of league service, and 4 years of service with the team offering the contract. The CBA does NOT specify that these years of service must be consecutive, nor does it specify that these years of service have to be an entire league season (that I am aware of).

Tobias Harris has been under contract with the Pistons for the previous two seasons with the Pistons, but also was with the team after acquiring him at the 2016 trade deadline through to the 2018 deadline. This could theoretically give Tobias 5 years of service with Detroit, which would potentially qualify him for a no trade clause.

For reference, here is the CBA https://nbpa.com/cba and the no trade section is under article 24 on page 414 through page 417

Edit: I don't have twitter, but if someone who does have twitter wouldn't mind asking a cap person like Keith Smith about this, I would be interested to hear their answer.

FWIW the CBA defines a year of service as follows:

“Years of Service” means the number of years of NBA service

credited to a player in accordance with the following: a player will be

credited with one (1) year of NBA service for each year that he is on an

NBA Active List or Inactive List for one (1) or more days during the Regular

Season. "