The NBA trade deadline might still be three months away, but we've already seen one deal this season.
So it's never too soon to start getting acquainted with the names around the league who possess the rare power to block a swap if they so choose.
There are 22 players on the 2015-16 edition of ESPN.com's annual All-No-Trade Team. Only six of them, of course, possess an outright no-trade clause in their contracts, but 16 more -- through various fine-print measures in the league's collective bargaining agreement -- have the privilege of saying they can't be traded without personal consent.
For the rest of the season, anyway.
The players who made the 2015-16 All-No-Trade Team break down into three categories:
1. The aforementioned six players with full no-trade clauses written into their contracts are Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade.
Since you've heard this lecture from us for years, I'm guessing that by now you're prone to remember that NBA players are only eligible for a no-trade clause after spending eight seasons in the league -- four with the same team -- and only when the clause is specifically negotiated into a new deal as opposed to an extension.
And, yes, Garnett was indeed able to secure a fresh no-trade clause in Minnesota in his new two-year, $16.5 million deal because he had the requisite service time from his first stint in 'Sota.
2. League rules state that any player who signs an offer sheet with a new team in restricted free agency and then sees that offer sheet matched by the incumbent team can't be traded without his consent for one full year after the offer sheet was matched.
Yet it's a rule that happens to apply to only one player in the whole league in the 2015-16 season. That would be Oklahoma City's Enes Kanter, who signed a $70 million offer sheet with Portland in July that the Thunder decided to match.
Don't forget, furthermore, that the rule carries an important disclaimer: Kanter can't be traded to the Blazers for a full calendar year, even if he did consent.
3. The final category is made up of 15 players on one-year contracts whom are commonly referred to as One-Year Birds.
These are players, in other words, who possess one-year deals and yet can't be traded without their consent because they've signed with the same team two seasons (or more) in a row.
Players in such circumstances, having re-signed on one-year deals with their previous employer, would have to forfeit their free-agent Bird rights if traded elsewhere before the end of the current season. League rules thus dictate that One-Year Birds have to be asked for their permission before they can be thrown into a trade, which gives them a measure of clout possessed by a Dirk or D-Wade between now and the Feb. 18 trade deadline.
As you comb through the list, one name will surely jump out: LeBron Raymone James. For league accounting purposes, even though LeBron holds a player option in his contract for the 2016-17 season, he is regarded as a player on a one-year deal.
The complete list of One-Year Birds for 2015-16:
• Cleveland Cavaliers: Matthew Dellavedova, LeBron James, James Jones and J.R. Smith
• Dallas Mavericks: Charlie Villanueva
• Denver Nuggets: Darrell Arthur
• Golden State Warriors: Leandro Barbosa
• Houston Rockets: Jason Terry
• Los Angeles Clippers: Austin Rivers
• New Orleans Pelicans: Norris Cole