As our tracker shows, the following teams currently have one spot available on their 15-man standard rosters:
- Brooklyn Nets
- Golden State Warriors
- Houston Rockets
- Orlando Magic
- Toronto Raptors
The Nets have an opening after they decided not to re-sign rookie forward Grant Nelson, whose 10-day contract expired on Sunday night. They’re still operating below the salary cap, so there isn’t anything preventing them from signing another player.
The Warriors and Rockets are operating in luxury tax territory, and while they have plenty of room below their hard caps to add a 15th man, they’re probably not all that eager to increase their projected tax bills by bringing in someone who won’t play at all.
The Magic and Raptors are both operating less than $1MM away from the tax line, but each team has enough room to bring in a minimum-salary veteran on a rest-of-season contract without becoming a taxpayer, so if there’s someone out there they like, they don’t necessarily have to wait.
The Kings and Jazz are worth mentioning too. Sacramento’s 15th spot is currently held by Killian Hayes, whose second 10-day contract will expire on Saturday night. Utah, meanwhile, has two players — Mo Bamba and Andersson Garcia — signed to 10-day deals through next week.
Finally, there’s one notable team not mentioned in the list above because they technically have three open 15-man roster spots, not just one. That’s the Celtics. Boston is in the midst of executing an intricately timed plan to meet the NBA’s rules related to roster minimums for the rest of the season while narrowly staying out of the tax.
It’s a safe bet that Boston will stick with just 12 players for the maximum allowable 14 days before making a couple roster additions in mid-March. Current two-way player Max Shulga will likely get a promotion at that time for financial reasons (his rookie minimum salary wouldn’t be subject to “tax variance“). If all goes according to plan, the Celtics will be able to sign a 15th man on the last day of the regular season without surpassing the tax threshold.