It’s very rare for a free agent to sign a lucrative contract at this point in the NBA league year. Most players who have been on the free agent market for weeks or months won’t warrant more than a minimum salary contract, and the same can be said for the majority of the veterans who hit the buyout market this month after being waived by other teams — just this week, Joe Johnson and Brandan Wright signed with the Rockets for the minimum.
Still, there are exceptions to that rule. After being bought out by the Suns, Greg Monroe signed a one-year, $5MM deal with the Celtics, an offer that hardly any other team had the cap flexibility to make this late in the season. It remains to be seen whether more veterans as valuable as Monroe will become free agents in the coming weeks, but if they do, some teams are better positioned than others to make aggressive contract offers to those players.
In the space below, we’ve listed the exceptions or cap room available for teams to offer to free agents at this point in the season. This information comes with a few caveats:
- Mid-level, room, and bi-annual exceptions are declining in value every day. Since January 10, each exception has been reduced in value by 1/177th per day. As of today, 38 days have passed since January 10, so the $4.328MM room exception, for instance, is now worth about $3.399MM. We’ve noted the current values of each exception in the space below, but those values will continue to decline each day, so if you’re reading this post after February 16, please take that into account.
- While the figures below represent what teams could technically offer a player, other roadblocks may get in the way of clubs being able to offer that full amount. For instance, the Pelicans and Trail Blazers each have multiple exceptions available, but they wouldn’t be able to use them all — they’d run into a hard cap before doing so. A few other teams are on the verge of reaching the luxury tax line, which would complicate the use of their exceptions.
- This list doesn’t include traded player exceptions, since they can’t be used to sign players. However, TPEs can be used to claim players off waivers. The list of available trade exceptions can be found here.
With those disclaimers in mind, here are the means by which NBA teams can currently sign free agents:
Atlanta Hawks
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
- Minimum salary
Boston Celtics
- Minimum salary
Brooklyn Nets
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
- Minimum salary
Charlotte Hornets
- Portion of mid-level exception ($3.84MM)
- Bi-annual exception ($2.58MM)
- Minimum salary
Chicago Bulls
- Portion of mid-level exception ($2.98MM)
- Bi-annual exception ($2.58MM)
- Minimum salary
- Note: Could create up to approximately $11.33MM in cap room by renouncing all exceptions (including TPEs).
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Portion of taxpayer mid-level exception ($2MM)
- Minimum salary
Dallas Mavericks
- Cap room ($14.2MM)
Denver Nuggets
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
- Minimum salary
Detroit Pistons
- Minimum salary
Golden State Warriors
- Minimum salary
Houston Rockets
- Minimum salary
Indiana Pacers
- Cap room ($5.8MM)
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
Los Angeles Clippers
- Disabled player exception ($2.76MM)
- Minimum salary
Los Angeles Lakers
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
- Minimum salary
Memphis Grizzlies
- Minimum salary
Miami Heat
- Disabled player exception ($5.5MM)
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
- Minimum salary
Milwaukee Bucks
- Portion of mid-level exception ($5.96MM)
- Bi-annual exception ($2.58MM)
- Minimum salary
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Minimum salary
New Orleans Pelicans
- Bi-annual exception ($2.58MM)
- Disabled player exception ($2.48MM)
- Portion of mid-level exception ($1.72MM)
- Minimum salary
New York Knicks
- Minimum salary
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Minimum salary
Orlando Magic
- Cap room ($3.88MM)
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
Philadelphia 76ers
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
- Minimum salary
Phoenix Suns
- Cap room ($6.89MM)
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
Portland Trail Blazers
- Mid-level exception ($6.6MM)
- Bi-annual exception ($2.58MM)
- Minimum salary
Sacramento Kings
- Cap room ($3.47MM)
- Room exception ($3.4MM)
San Antonio Spurs
- Bi-annual exception ($2.58MM)
- Minimum salary
Toronto Raptors
- Bi-annual exception ($2.58MM)
- Minimum salary
Utah Jazz
- Disabled player exception ($2.63MM)
- Portion of room exception ($886K)
- Minimum salary
Washington Wizards
- Portion of taxpayer mid-level exception ($1.49MM)
- Minimum salary
Information from Basketball Insiders, information from ESPN, and Hoops Rumors’ own data was used in the creation of this post.
Huh
Charlotte is up big do do. Kemba Walker will be free agent next season. They are going into luxury tax. They can’t get rid of Michael Kidd-Gilchrest, Dwight Howard, Marvin Williams. or Nicolas Batum. They aren’t very good.
When did Boston use the biannual exception?
They lost it (and the full mid-level) when they went under the cap to sign Hayward. Then they used the room exception on Baynes and their DPE on Monroe, leaving just the minimum.
That’s right. I forgot they went under the cap, my bad. Thanks Luke.
Maybe the Pacers could sign Josh McRoberts. They need rebounding, he’s played with them before, and he’s from Indianapolis.
Wonder if the Mavs might sign Rose. Can give him a ton of money if needed and solid PT. Plus imagine Smith Jr playing like MVP Rose if he takes him under his wing