Loophole No. 1
However, there are still two ways around the reacquisition rule. The first one centers around a weird quirk relating to twice-traded players.
It’s true that since the Thunder traded Melo to the Atlanta Hawks and he was subsequently waived, OKC can’t sign him until next year.
However, if the Hawks had traded Melo somewhere else, (say, to the Chicago Bulls) and then he was waived, it would be the Hawks who would be ineligible to sign him. In this scenario, the Thunder would be free to sign him just as they would any other free agent.
This scenario was possible in the 2016-17 season for Andrew Bogut. He was traded from the Golden State Warriors to the Dallas Mavericks early in the season as part of a salary dump. He was traded to Philadelphia a few months later, and was quickly waived.
NBA's reacquisition rule doesn't apply to GSW, because Dallas becomes most recent to waive Bogut. G-State undecided on its Bogut interest.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 24, 2017
Although Bogut signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers shortly thereafter, he was technically eligible to sign with the Warriors again. The NBA actually reviewed the case preemptively, and determined that the CBA did allow it.
However, the Bogut thing was very coincidental. It seems rather difficult for a team to actually use this to their advantage. Consider again the Melo situation.
If the Thunder wanted to get rid of Melo’s contract while bringing him back via two separate trades and a buyout, it doesn’t totally make sense for the other parties. In this scenario, the Thunder would give Melo and a pick to the Hawks, who would turn around and do the same to the Bulls.
It still makes sense for the Bulls to do that, but why would the Hawks do it? They could help out of the pure kindness of their hearts, but they’d likely demand (and deserve) a minor asset for their role in facilitating the deal. Now, the Thunder have to give up two assets just to save money, which might be less worth it for them.
Additionally, this whole deal is predicated on two teams having $27.9 million in cap space to absorb Melo’s contract — no small feat in today’s NBA. Even the Hawks, who may only be keeping him for a moment, need to have the requisite space to make the deal work.
The alternative is that more contracts need to be shuffled, like how Dennis Schroder was included in the deal so Atlanta didn’t bear the full brunt of Melo’s deal. You can see how quickly the whole situation becomes incredibly complicated, and likely not worth it for the parties involved.