While NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 20 players during the offseason, rosters are limited to 15 players during the regular season. Expanded offseason rosters allow clubs to bring in players on contracts that aren’t fully guaranteed, giving those players a chance to earn a regular season roster spot or getting a closer look at them before sending them to their G League affiliate.
In addition to the usual 15-man rosters, NBA teams are permitted – as of this season – to carry two players on two-way contracts. Two-way deals, which we describe in detail in our glossary, essentially give clubs the NBA rights to two extra players, though they’ll spend the majority of the season in the G League, rather than with the NBA team.
Here are the various categories you’ll find in our roster count list:
- NBA: These players are officially on standard NBA contracts with a given team. The total number of players under contract is listed, with the number of players on fully guaranteed contracts noted in parentheses. So a team with 13 guaranteed contracts and two players on 10-day deals will be listed as “15 (13).” If you’re curious about which contracts aren’t fully guaranteed, that list can be found right here.
- Two-way: These are players officially signed to two-way contracts. You can find a specific team’s two-way players right here.
- Reported: These are players whose contract agreements have been reported but haven’t been made official. When they’re finalized, we’ll move them to the “Official” or “Two-way” category. We’ll also use this section to make note of cuts that have been reported but not finalized.
- Total: A team’s total roster count, taking into account all of the above.
Here are 2017’s NBA roster counts, which we’ll continue to update through the season:
Updated 4-12-18 (9:43am CT)
Atlanta Hawks
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Boston Celtics
- NBA: 16 (16)
- Note: Celtics granted an extra roster spot via the hardship provision.
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 18
Brooklyn Nets
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Charlotte Hornets
- NBA: 14 (14)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 16
Chicago Bulls
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Cleveland Cavaliers
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Dallas Mavericks
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Denver Nuggets
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Detroit Pistons
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Golden State Warriors
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 1
- Total: 16
Houston Rockets
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Indiana Pacers
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Los Angeles Clippers
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 1
- Total: 16
Los Angeles Lakers
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Memphis Grizzlies
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Miami Heat
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Milwaukee Bucks
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Minnesota Timberwolves
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 1
- Total: 16
New Orleans Pelicans
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 1
- Total: 16
New York Knicks
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Oklahoma City Thunder
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Orlando Magic
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 1
- Total: 16
Philadelphia 76ers
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 1
- Total: 16
Phoenix Suns
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Portland Trail Blazers
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 1
- Total: 16
Sacramento Kings
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
San Antonio Spurs
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Toronto Raptors
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 1
- Total: 16
Utah Jazz
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 2
- Total: 17
Washington Wizards
- NBA: 15 (15)
- Two-way: 1
- Total: 16
So technically each team is allowed 17 contracts. The 15 man roster and 2 2way guys correct?
During the regular season, yeah.
There must be a typo for the Bucks. By my count, they have 15 guys on their roster, with 14 guaranteed contracts. Plus 2 two-ways for a total of 17.
There was a typo on their number of guarantees (I’d accidentally put the number of non-guaranteed contracts instead of guaranteed contracts), but I do have their count at 16 (14 guarantees) + 2 two-ways. Gary Payton II and JeQuan Lewis are the two non-guaranteed guys.
Gary Payton II is now with the Lakers. He’s been there about three weeks now.
That’s accounted for in the updated roster counts above. The comment you replied to is from the day this post was first published in August.
Unless I heard anything new I still think James Blackmon is an reported but not confirmed signing for the Sixers.
There were a couple deals reported back in June that we didn’t include here since there was some ambiguity about whether they were just summer league agreements or actual camp invites, but yeah, Blackmon is one of them. Still possible he’ll sign with the Sixers.