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2026 NBA Buyout Market Watch

By | at February 11, 2026 12:00 pm

The 2026 NBA trade deadline is behind us, but that doesn’t mean teams are finished making roster moves. With two months still left in the 2025/26 regular season, there are still many roster spots to be filled around the league, as well as veterans who might not finish the year with their current teams.

The NBA’s buyout market has been active since the trade deadline and could feature several more moves in the next couple weeks.

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Buyouts]

A veteran in an undesirable situation due to his playing time or his team’s place in the standings (or both) could ask to be released and may even be willing to give back a little money to accommodate the move. Some teams might make that decision unilaterally, opting to release a veteran to open up a roster spot for a younger player.

For the rest of the month, we’ll use the space below to monitor the buyout market, keeping tabs on which veteran players have been bought out or released, and which have found new teams. We’ll also keep an eye on players who are potential buyout candidates. The list will be updated regularly in the coming days and weeks.

A player on an NBA contract must be waived by the end of the day on March 1 in order to retain his playoff eligibility, so that will be a key date to watch.

Here’s our breakdown of the 2026 NBA buyout market:

Last updated 2-11-26 (12:00 pm CT)

Veterans who have been recently bought out or waived and remain unsigned:

Not every player who has been waived this season will be mentioned here. This list is essentially just made up of players with at least a few years of NBA experience who could be of immediate interest to teams in the playoff mix.

For instance, Hunter Tyson and Malaki Branham are among those waived since the trade deadline, but neither one has ever been a regular, productive rotation player. They don’t fit the profile of a traditional buyout market pickup for a contending team and won’t be listed here for that reason.

It’s also worth noting that players like Highsmith and Niang are listed here despite dealing with injuries that have limited their availability this season. We’re still assuming that they’ll be healthy enough to contribute before the end of the season, whereas that’s not the case for recently waived players like Duop Reath or Dante Exum, who won’t play again in 2025/26 due to season-ending injuries.

Veterans who have been bought out or released and joined new teams:

Again, we’re primarily focusing here on players who fit the traditional buyout market profile, which means playoff teams – or at least playoff hopefuls – adding win-now help.

If a lottery-bound team signs a young player in order to audition him for the rest of this season, that signing won’t be listed here.

Other veterans who are candidates to be bought out or released:

Note: Players marked with an asterisk (*) have salaries above the non-taxpayer mid-level exception and would be ineligible to sign with a team operating over either tax apron.

The most realistic candidates:

Possible candidates:

Longer shots:

Not all of these players will be bought out or waived. In fact, outside of the guys in the “most realistic candidates” section, most will stay put rather than reach free agency. Still, until March 1 comes and goes, we’re viewing these players as worth monitoring.

Teams operating in tax apron territory:

As noted above, a player whose pre-waiver salary exceeds the non-taxpayer mid-level exception is ineligible to sign with a team operating over either tax apron. The non-taxpayer MLE this season is $14,104,000, so that restriction would apply to someone like Bogdanovic ($16,020,000) but not to Olynyk ($13,445,122).

Here are the teams in tax apron territory who are ineligible to sign a player who fits that bill:

  • Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Golden State Warriors
  • New York Knicks
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