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Winderman: CBA rules grind NBA player movement to a halt

Miami Heat v Sacramento Kings

SACRAMENTO, CA - DECEMBER 06: Donte Greene #20 of the Sacramento Kings in action during their game against the Miami Heat at ARCO Arena on December 6, 2009 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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Donte Greene to the Nets, Martell Webster to the Wizards . . .

If it seems like the NBA is in a bit of a personnel limbo, it is because, well, it is.

For as much as the floodgates open with the July start of free agency, and for as much as things can change on a Dwight Howard whim, there also are plenty of regulations in the collective-bargaining agreement that can just as quickly stem the tide of transactions.

To a degree, the NBA’s personnel calendar is a time-release process.

The Howard trade has been the NBA’s only trade during August. Why? The rules, that’s why.

Foremost, teams are not allow to trade a player for the later of three months or Dec. 15 after signing him as a free agent or matching an offer sheet. Under the new collective-bargaining agreement, the trade ban extends to the later of three months or Jan. 15 for players re-signed as free agents with Bird Rights or Early-Bird Rights for teams over the cap (with a few caveats to that process).

So for those wondering why there has been no follow-up move from the 76ers with Kwame Brown, Lavoy Allen or even Spencer Hawes after obtaining Andrew Bynum, the reality is nothing can happen with any of those three until Dec. 15 at the earliest.

Similarly, for those wondering exactly what the Lakers are still doing with Chris Duhon on a roster that already features Steve Nash and Steve Blake, the rule is that a player acquired in a trade cannot be combined with another player in a trade by a team operating above the salary cap for two months. (And it’s safe to say there hardly is a stand-alone market for Chris Duhon and his contract.)

One restriction that largely already has been overcome, though, is the ban on trading draft picks for a month after they sign.

By and large, the NBA personnel market, particularly the trade market, is designed to be on hiatus during periods such as these.

So, instead, we’re left to chronicle the movement of Donte Greene and Martell Webster, play out the final days of free agency with the likes of Andray Blatche and Darko Milicic, while waiting, essentially, for the trade restrictions to ease and the pre-Christmas shopping to begin anew.

To be continued . . . in December.

Ira Winderman writes regularly for NBCSports.com and covers the Heat and the NBA for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. You can follow him on Twitter at @IraHeatBeat.