With the NBA labor settlement and the season to begin on Christmas Day, a short time was left for teams to conduct trades and sign free agents.

The most notable transaction was one that was wiped out by the NBA offices.  New Orleans point guard Chris Paul was packaged to the Los Angeles Lakers in a three team trade that was later nullified by the league-owned team because it was not "in the best basketball interests" of the team.  Basically the players that the Hornets would receive as compensation for one of the top players in the game was not enough.  Paul was later sent to Los Angeles, but to the Clippers, not the Lakers.

The Knicks, long rumored to be the landing location for Paul after the season, could not wait due to the changing cap landscape of the new collective bargaining agreement.  In a last minute move, they landed center Tyson Chandler of the world champion Dallas Mavericks.  The move effectively eliminated the Knicks for being in the running for Paul, but also gives the team arguably one of the best front courts in the game, teaming Chandler with Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire.