In the end, just five players had their contracts bought out this year and changed teams on the buyout market.
There was no rush of buyouts at the Friday night deadline for players to remain playoff eligible for their new teams. While players can still be bought out and sign with a new team through the end of the season, they could not be part of their new team's playoff rosters.
There had been some buzz about Otto Porter being bought out in Orlando — with Boston and other playoff teams interested in signing him — but that did not materialize, as Marc Stein of the New York Times noted.
Otto Porter has had no buyout discussions with the Magic and is on course to finish the season with Orlando, league sources say.
I'm told Porter likewise had no buyout discussions with Chicago before the Bulls traded him to Orlando in the Nikola Vucevic deal.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 9, 2021
In the end, for all the noise about the buyout market, just five players changed teams.
No further buyouts last night before the 11:59 PM ET deadline for players to retain playoff eligibility. This season’s five buyouts:
*Blake Griffin (DET to BKN)
*LaMarcus Aldridge (SAS to BKN)
*Gorgui Dieng (MEM to SAS)
*Andre Drummond (CLE to LAL)
*Khem Birch (ORL to TOR)
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 10, 2021
With a little more than a month to go in the season, playoff-bound teams' rosters are pretty much locked in.
