Hoops Rumors Originals

Early NBA Salary Guarantee Dates For 2025/26

May 17th, 2025 at 1:24pm CST by Luke Adams

An NBA player who has a non-guaranteed salary for a given season will, by default, receive his full guarantee if he remains under contract through January 7 of that league year. Because the league-wide salary guarantee date is January 10, a player must clear waivers before that date if a team wants to avoid being on the hook for his full salary.

However, a number of players who have non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts for 2025/26 have earlier trigger dates. Those players will receive either their full guarantee or a partial guarantee on certain dates before January 7, assuming they’re not waived.

These dates are fairly malleable — if a player and team reach an agreement, a salary guarantee deadline can be pushed back.

For example, if a player’s contract calls for him to receive his full guarantee on June 27, his team could ask him to move that date to the first or second week of July to get a better sense of what will happen in free agency before making a final decision. The player doesn’t have to agree, but it might be in his best interest to push back his guarantee date rather than simply being waived.

Those agreements between a player and team aren’t always reported right away, so our list of early salary guarantee dates is a tentative one. When a player’s salary guarantee date passes, our assumption is that he received his guarantee, but it’s possible he and his team negotiated a new guarantee date that simply hasn’t been made public yet. We’ll update the info below as necessary in the coming months.

Here are the early salary guarantee dates for 2025/26:

June 29

Anthony Gill (Wizards): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,546,675) becomes fully guaranteed. (❌)
Maxwell Lewis (Nets): Partial guarantee ($100,000) increases to full guarantee ($2,221,677). (❌)
Nick Richards (Suns): Non-guaranteed salary ($5,000,000) becomes fully guaranteed. (✅)

June 30

Johnny Juzang (Jazz): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,840,518) becomes fully guaranteed. (❌)
Cody Martin (Suns): Non-guaranteed salary ($8,680,000) becomes fully guaranteed. (❌)
Leonard Miller (Timberwolves): Partial guarantee ($1,110,839) increases to full guarantee ($2,221,677). (✅)
Svi Mykhailiuk (Jazz): Non-guaranteed salary ($3,675,000) becomes fully guaranteed. (✅)

July 1

Colby Jones (Thunder): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,221,677) becomes partially guaranteed ($1,110,839). (❌)
Rayan Rupert (Trail Blazers): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,221,677) becomes fully guaranteed. (✅)

July 7

Andre Jackson (Bucks): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,221,677) becomes partially guaranteed ($800,000). (✅)
Jock Landale (Rockets): Non-guaranteed salary ($8,000,000) becomes fully guaranteed. (❌)
Brandon Williams (Mavericks): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,270,735) becomes partially guaranteed ($200,000). (✅)

July 8

A.J. Green (Bucks): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,301,587) becomes fully guaranteed. (✅)

July 9

Jamison Battle (Raptors): Partial guarantee ($977,689) increases to full guarantee ($1,955,377). (✅)

July 11

James Harden (Clippers): Partial guarantee ($12,330,840) increases to full guarantee ($39,182,693). (✅)

July 15

Chris Livingston (Bucks): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,221,677) becomes fully guaranteed. (❌)
Jordan Miller (Clippers): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,191,897) becomes partially guaranteed ($350,000). (❌)
Josh Minott (Celtics): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,378,870) becomes fully guaranteed. (✅)
Josh Okogie (Hornets): Non-guaranteed salary ($7,750,000) becomes fully guaranteed. (❌)
Zion Williamson (Pelicans): Partial guarantee ($7,889,218) increases to full guarantee ($39,446,090). (✅)

July 20

Toumani Camara (Trail Blazers): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,221,677) becomes fully guaranteed. (✅)
Shake Milton (Lakers): Non-guaranteed salary ($3,000,000) becomes fully guaranteed. (❌)

July 23

Antonio Reeves (Pelicans): Non-guaranteed salary ($1,955,377) becomes partially guaranteed ($977,689). (❌)

July 25

Jaden Springer (Jazz): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,349,578) becomes partially guaranteed ($400,000). (❌)

August 1

Julian Champagnie (Spurs): Non-guaranteed salary ($3,000,000) becomes fully guaranteed. (✅)
Duop Reath (Trail Blazers): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,221,677) becomes fully guaranteed. (✅)

September 25

Gui Santos (Warriors): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,221,677) becomes partially guaranteed ($225,000).

Day before the NBA regular season

Adem Bona (Sixers): Partial guarantee ($977,689) increases to full guarantee ($1,955,377).
Andre Jackson (Bucks): Partial guarantee ($800,000) increases to full guarantee ($2,221,677).

First day of NBA regular season

Keon Johnson (Nets): Partial guarantee ($271,614) increases to $760,520.
Neemias Queta (Celtics): Partial guarantee ($1,174,789) increases to full guarantee ($2,349,578).
Jordan Walsh (Celtics): Partial guarantee ($200,000) increases to $1,110,839.
Jalen Wilson (Nets): Partial guarantee ($88,075) increases to $381,695.

First day of team’s regular season

Terence Davis (Kings): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,546,675) becomes partially guaranteed ($250,000).
Moussa Diabate (Hornets): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,270,735) becomes partially guaranteed ($250,000).
Pelle Larsson (Heat): Partial guarantee ($977,689) increases to full guarantee ($1,955,377).
Brandon Williams (Mavericks): Partial guarantee ($200,000) increases to $850,000.
Jeenathan Williams (Rockets): Non-guaranteed salary ($2,270,735) becomes fully guaranteed. (❌)

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Poll: Who Will Win Thunder/Nuggets Game 7?

May 16th, 2025 at 9:11pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Thunder and Nuggets have played a dramatic, hard-fought series, with neither team able to take a commanding lead. After winning Games 4 and 5, Oklahoma City looked poised to put the series away, but Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Denver’s role players responded in Game 6, forcing a decisive Game 7, which will be played on Sunday at Oklahoma City.

The battle of the MVP candidates has been all anyone could have hoped for through six games. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 28.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 7.0 assists per game, while Jokic has responded with 29.8 PPG and 14.7 RPG.

Both teams have five players averaging at least 10 points per night, with Denver’s Murray (22.0 PPG) the lone player outside of the top two stars to crack the 20 PPG threshold. While the Thunder have gotten well-rounded contributions, Jalen Williams has struggled as the team’s second option, averaging 16.5 PPG on 33.7% from the field.

Even more concerning for the Thunder are the shooting woes of its top three players. None of Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, or Chet Holmgren are hitting over 27% from three, though their offense has been bolstered by Alex Caruso knocking down 43.8% of his threes in addition to his typical disruptive defense.

One of the most important factors coming into the game will be the health of Denver’s do-it-all forward Aaron Gordon. Gordon was in and out of the final two minutes of Game 6 after injuring his hamstring trying to save a ball tipped away by Holmgren, an injury that has been diagnosed as a left hamstring strain, leaving his status very much in doubt.

Losing Gordon would be a massive blow to the Nuggets’ chances. In addition to his always-excellent defense, the veteran forward has come up clutch all series. He hit the game-winning shot in Game 1 and had multiple clutch baskets in Game 3, including a three-pointer to send the game to overtime with 28 seconds left in regulation and a mid-range jumper with a minute left in overtime to push the lead to nine points.

Depth has generally favored Oklahoma City, which has gotten positive minutes from Caruso, Cason Wallace, Jaylin Williams, and Aaron Wiggins. However, the Nuggets have found some answers in Christian Braun and, in Game 6, Julian Strawther, whose 15 second-half points were critical to earning the Nuggets some much-needed momentum.

The two teams have managed to play to their strengths for the most part, with the Thunder forcing a 14.3% turnover rate from the Nuggets while Denver maintains a 4% edge in offensive rebounding rate.

The Thunder are the second-youngest team in the league and occasionally that lack of experience has reared its head, with the most glaring example being in Game 1, when they intentionally fouled the Nuggets while up three with Jokic on the bench and no timeouts to get him back in the game. The Nuggets, on the other hand, have the most Game 7 experience over the last 10 years of any team outside of the Celtics.

The Thunder finished 18 games ahead of Denver in the regular season standings and the oddsmakers favor them trying to win at home. According to BetOnline.ag, the Thunder are currently 8.5-point favorites.

We want to know what you think. Will the Thunder be able to hold off the former champion Nuggets, or will Denver’s experience prove too much for the Thunder to overcome?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to make your predictions and share your thoughts!

Community Shootaround: Draft Lottery Changes

May 13th, 2025 at 8:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Is it time for another change to the draft lottery?

That’s what many people are thinking after seeing the Mavericks leapfrog 10 other teams and win the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes on Monday.

If not for a wave of injuries – and of course, the controversial Luka Doncic trade – Dallas wouldn’t have even held any lottery combinations. The Mavs’ good fortune comes one year after the Hawks jumped from No. 10 to the top spot.

The current lottery format was introduced in 2019, in which the teams with the three worst records have an equal chance – 14 percent – of getting the top pick. Since that time, no team entering the lottery at No. 1 has gained the top pick, though four teams in either the second or third spot has had the winning combination.

With the lottery determining the top four slots, the team with the worst record has dropped from No. 1 to No. 5 three consecutive times – the Pistons twice and this time the Jazz. It can be argued that Utah, which overtly tanked for a good portion of the season, deserved its fate.

And that’s the issue. The current system was designed to discourage tanking, as was the creation of the play-in tournament to get more teams into the postseason. But it certainly hasn’t erased that strategy by struggling or rebuilding franchises.

There could be ways to make the lottery seem more fair. Perhaps not allowing a team to win the lottery more than once in a short span. Similarly, there could be a rule against a team moving up from its slot more than once or twice in a certain time frame. It certainly seems unfair that San Antonio has wound up with the top pick, the No. 4 pick and the No. 2 pick in three straight drafts.

The lottery could also be changed so that teams near the bottom of it can’t get the No. 1 pick. Any number of tweaks could be considered and it appears the current system could use some.

That brings us to today’s topic: How do you feel about the current lottery format? Should changes be made? If so, what should be done to make it fairer?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Full 2025 NBA Draft Order

May 12th, 2025 at 7:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Now that the NBA’s draft lottery results are in, the full 2025 draft order has been set.

We’ll likely see some of these picks change hands on June 25 or 26, or in the days leading up to the draft — we’ll be sure to update the list below if and when picks are traded.

Here’s the full 2025 NBA draft order:

First round

Dallas Mavericks
San Antonio Spurs
Philadelphia 76ers
Charlotte Hornets
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards
New Orleans Pelicans
Brooklyn Nets
Toronto Raptors
Phoenix Suns (via Rockets)
Portland Trail Blazers
Chicago Bulls
Atlanta Hawks (from Kings)
San Antonio Spurs (from Hawks)
Oklahoma City Thunder (from Heat)
Memphis Grizzlies (from Magic)
Minnesota Timberwolves (from Pistons)
Washington Wizards (from Grizzlies)
Brooklyn Nets (from Bucks)
Miami Heat (from Warriors)
Utah Jazz (from Timberwolves)
Brooklyn Nets (from Lakers via Hawks)
New Orleans Pelicans (from Pacers)
Oklahoma City Thunder (from Clippers)
Orlando Magic (from Nuggets)
Brooklyn Nets (from Knicks)
Brooklyn Nets (from Rockets)
Boston Celtics
Phoenix Suns (from Cavaliers)
Los Angeles Clippers (from Thunder)

Second round

Minnesota Timberwolves (from Jazz)
Boston Celtics (from Wizards)
Charlotte Hornets
Charlotte Hornets (from Pelicans)
Philadelphia 76ers
Brooklyn Nets
Detroit Pistons (from Raptors)
Indiana Pacers (from Spurs)
Toronto Raptors (from Trail Blazers)
New Orleans Pelicans (from Suns via Wizards)
Golden State Warriors (from Heat)
Sacramento Kings (from Bulls)
Utah Jazz (from Mavericks)
Oklahoma City Thunder (from Hawks)
Chicago Bulls (from Kings)
Orlando Magic
Milwaukee Bucks (from Pistons)
Memphis Grizzlies (from Warriors)
Cleveland Cavaliers (from Bucks)
New York Knicks (from Grizzlies)
Los Angeles Clippers (from Timberwolves)
Phoenix Suns (from Nuggets)
Utah Jazz (from Clippers)
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Lakers
~~New York Knicks~~
- Note: The Knicks forfeited this second-round pick due to free agency gun-jumping.
Memphis Grizzlies (from Rockets)
Orlando Magic (from Celtics)
Cleveland Cavaliers
Phoenix Suns (from Thunder via Rockets)

2025 NBA Draft Lottery Primer

May 12th, 2025 at 1:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The 2025 NBA draft lottery will take place on Monday evening prior to Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Knicks and Celtics. The half-hour event will be broadcast on ESPN beginning at 6:00 pm Central time.

While last year’s draft class had no clear-cut frontrunner to be the first player off the board heading into lottery night, there’s a consensus No. 1 pick in this year’s class: Duke forward Cooper Flagg. As Chris Mannix of SI.com tweets, it’s safe to assume whichever team lands the first overall pick in Monday’s lottery will be keeping it and drafting Flagg rather than entertaining trade proposals.

“If we don’t get him, I just hope he winds up in the (other) conference,” one lottery team executive told Mannix.

While Dylan Harper of Rutgers is considered a strong consolation prize at No. 2, the presence of a surefire No. 1 choice at the top of the draft will make the results of the 2025 lottery especially meaningful, with teams holding out hope that their logo will be on the final card revealed by the NBA on Monday evening.

Here’s what you need to know heading into Monday’s lottery:

Pre-Lottery Draft Order:

The top 14 picks in the 2025 NBA draft would look like this if tonight’s lottery results don’t change the order:

Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards
Charlotte Hornets
New Orleans Pelicans
Philadelphia 76ers
- Note: The Thunder will receive this pick if it falls out of the top six (36.0%).
Brooklyn Nets
Toronto Raptors
San Antonio Spurs
Houston Rockets (from Suns)
Portland Trail Blazers
Dallas Mavericks
Chicago Bulls
Atlanta Hawks (from Kings)
- Note: The Kings will retain this pick if it moves into the top four (3.8%).
San Antonio Spurs (from Hawks)

For the full pre-lottery draft order, click here.

Draft Lottery Odds:

The Jazz, Wizards, and Hornets have the best odds to land the No. 1 pick. Each of those three teams has a 14.0% chance to pick first overall.

From there, the Pelicans (12.5%), Sixers (10.5%), Nets (9.0%), Raptors (7.5%), and Spurs (6.7% across two picks) have the next-best odds to receive the first overall selection.

When the NBA introduced its new lottery format in 2019, the selling point was that the new system flattened the odds, making it less likely that the league’s very worst teams would claim a top pick.

Before the NBA tweaked the lottery rules, there was a 60.5% chance that one of the league’s bottom three teams would secure the No. 1 pick and only a 27.6% chance that a team in the 5-14 range of the lottery standings would do so. Now, those odds are 42.0% and 45.5%, respectively.

Despite the flattened odds, there were few major lottery-night surprises in the years leading up to 2024. The Pelicans moved up from No. 7 in the lottery standings in 2019 to claim the first overall pick, which they used on Zion Williamson, but in each of the next four years, a team in the top three of the lottery standings won the No. 1 pick.

That streak ended a year ago, however, when the Hawks moved up from the No. 10 spot in the lottery standings to claim the No. 1 overall pick, which eventually became Zaccharie Risacher. Perhaps we’ll get another major surprise in this year’s event.

For this year’s full draft lottery odds for all 14 spots, click here.

For full details on the current lottery format, click here.

Trades Affecting The Draft Lottery:

The Sixers traded their 2025 first-round pick to the Thunder, but will keep that selection if it lands within the top six. There’s a 63.9% chance that will happen and a 36.1% chance it will slip to No. 7 or below and be sent to Oklahoma City. If Philadelphia retains its first-rounder this year, the club would instead owe its 2026 first-round pick (top-four protected) to the Thunder.

The Rockets have acquired the Suns‘ unprotected first-round pick, which will likely land at either No. 9 (50.7%) or No. 10 (28.3%), but has a 17.3% chance to move into the top four.

The Kings will owe the Hawks their first-round pick if it lands outside of the top 12, which is highly likely. There’s a 92.9% chance that pick will be at No. 13 and a 3.3% chance of it moving down to No. 14. By comparison, there’s only a 3.8% chance that it will move into the top four, allowing Sacramento to keep it.

Finally, the Hawks‘ first-round pick, which projects to be No. 14, will be sent to the Spurs. There’s a 96.6% chance it will be the 14th overall pick, but with a 3.4% chance it will turn into a top-four pick, San Antonio has a shot at moving up in the lottery with two separate first-rounders.

Draft Lottery Representatives:

The representatives for each of this year’s lottery teams are as follows, according to a pair of announcements from the NBA:

Utah Jazz
- On stage: Ashley Smith (team co-owner)
- Drawing room: Justin Zanik (general manager)
Washington Wizards
- On stage: Bub Carrington
- Drawing room: Will Dawkins (general manager)
Charlotte Hornets
- On stage: Charles Lee (head coach)
- Drawing room: Rick Schnall (co-chairman and governor)
New Orleans Pelicans
- On stage: Zion Williamson
- Drawing room: Joe Dumars (executive VP of basketball operations)
Philadelphia 76ers
- On stage: Jared McCain
- Drawing room: Ned Cohen (assistant GM)
Brooklyn Nets
- On stage: Jordi Fernandez (head coach)
- Drawing room: Makar Gevorkian (VP of basketball operations alignment and strategic planning)
Toronto Raptors
- On stage: Masai Ujiri (vice chairman and president)
- Drawing room: Bobby Webster (general manager)
San Antonio Spurs
- On stage: Mitch Johnson (head coach)
- Drawing room: Brian Wright (general manager)
Houston Rockets
- On stage: Hakeem Olajuwon (former Rockets player)
- Drawing room: Sam Strantz (senior team counsel)
Portland Trail Blazers
- On stage: Toumani Camara
- Drawing room: Andrae Patterson (assistant GM)
Dallas Mavericks
- On stage: Rolando Blackman (team ambassador)
- Drawing room: Matt Riccardi (assistant GM)
Chicago Bulls
- On stage: Matas Buzelis
- Drawing room: Faizan Hasnany (manager of basketball strategy and analytics)
Sacramento Kings
- On stage: Keon Ellis
- Drawing room: Alvin Gentry (VP of basketball engagement)

Although they’ll receive the Kings’ first-round pick if it lands outside the top 12, the Hawks won’t have any representatives on hand because they don’t have a path to a top-four pick.

The Thunder, who will receive the Sixers’ pick if it’s outside of the top six, won’t have an on-stage representative for the same reason. However, executive VP and GM Sam Presti will be in the drawing room.

Community Shootaround: Best, Worst Draft Lottery Outcomes

May 11th, 2025 at 8:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Fans of NBA teams who own a pick (or two) in this year’s lottery will obviously be rooting for their favorite club to get lucky on Monday and claim the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, putting them in position to select Duke phenom Cooper Flagg.

But what about the fans who don’t have a personal rooting interest in Monday’s event? What outcome should they be hoping for? Would it be more interesting for Flagg to become the centerpiece of a rebuilding team that badly needs one, like the Jazz or Wizards? Or would it be more fun to see him join a team with some established talent that only ended up high in the lottery due to injuries, like the Pelicans or Sixers?

Here are all the teams that have a shot at the No. 1 pick, as our breakdown of the lottery odds indicates:

Utah Jazz (14%): The Jazz have made five first-round picks in the past two drafts, but none of those players looks like an obvious franchise cornerstone. They bottomed out this season in the hopes of landing one.
Washington Wizards (14%): If the Wizards ended up with the first overall pick, they’d be adding Flagg to a young core that includes Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, and Bub Carrington.
Charlotte Hornets (14%): The Hornets almost certainly would’ve been a lottery team even if they’d been healthy in 2024/25, but injuries to key players like LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Mark Williams are the main reason they’re this high in the lottery standings.
New Orleans Pelicans (12.5%): Perhaps no team was hit harder by the injury bug this past year than the Pelicans, whose decision on Zion Williamson‘s future (keep or trade) would be all the more interesting if they were able to add Flagg.
Philadelphia 76ers (10.5%): While Joel Embiid‘s health remains a major question mark going forward, no Eastern Conference team would want the Sixers to get the chance to add Flagg to a group that features Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey.
Brooklyn Nets (9%): The Nets reacquired control of their first-round pick from Houston last offseason, anticipating that they’d be in this position. That trade would pay off in a massive way if they get lucky on lottery night.
Toronto Raptors (7.5%): The Raptors have a crowded forward depth chart already, with Brandon Ingram joining Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett. Adding Flagg to the mix would create a pretty unbalanced roster, but they’d absolutely welcome that problem.
San Antonio Spurs (6.7%): Besides their own pick (6.0%), the Spurs also control the Hawks’ first-rounder (0.7%), giving them two outside shots at No. 1. Given that the Spurs won the lottery for Victor Wembanyama just two years ago, it would feel a little unfair for them to luck into Flagg too, but that duo would be very fun to watch together.
Houston Rockets (3.8%): The 52-win Rockets, who control Phoenix’s first-round pick, have no shortage of young talent on their roster already. Winning the lottery would be a case of the rich getting richer, especially considering that Houston also has extra future draft assets that could be used as trade chips for additional upgrades.
Portland Trail Blazers (3.7%): Portland’s young core features plenty of intriguing talent, including Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe, and Scoot Henderson, but they’d love to add one more long-term keeper to that group before they start trying to contend. For what it’s worth, the Hawks moved up from this spot in the lottery standings to No. 1 last year.
Dallas Mavericks (1.8%): Jumping up to No. 1 might be karmic justice for fans in Dallas, who were devastated by this year’s Luka Doncic trade. But would it feel right for general manager Nico Harrison to be rewarded with a new franchise player after making that Doncic deal? Either way, adding Flagg to a roster that features Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving would certainly qualify as intriguing.
Chicago Bulls (1.7%): The Bulls have begun leaning into a rebuild this past year, having traded away Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine. They’ll probably need to tear things down further if they want to have a legitimate shot at a top pick, but you never know.
Sacramento Kings (0.8%): The Kings’ top-12 protected pick will likely be sent to Atlanta at No. 13, but there’s a 0.8% chance of them moving up to No. 1. After a tumultuous year that saw Sacramento fire head coach Mike Brown and GM Monte McNair and trade star point guard De’Aaron Fox, new head of basketball operations Scott Perry would love to begin his tenure by seeing this long shot of less than 1-in-100 come through.

We want to know what you think. Outside of your favorite team, which club would you most like to see win the draft lottery on Monday evening? Which outcome would be a worst-case scenario, in your view?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Hoops Rumors Glossary: Cap Holds

May 10th, 2025 at 1:02pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets have just over $131MM in guaranteed money committed to player salaries for 2025/26. However, even though next season’s salary cap is expected to come in above $154MM, Houston won’t begin the 2025 offseason with $24MM+ in cap room to spend.

In fact, the Rockets technically won’t open the new league year with any cap space at all. Each of Houston’s own free agents will be assigned a free agent amount – or “cap hold” – until the player signs a new contract or the Rockets renounce his rights.

The general purpose of a cap hold is to prevent teams from using room under the cap to sign free agents before using Bird rights to re-sign their own free agents. If a team wants to take advantage of its cap space, it can renounce the rights to its own free agents, eliminating those cap holds. However, doing so means the team will no longer hold any form of Bird rights for those players — if the team wants to re-sign those free agents, it would have to use its cap room or another kind of cap exception.

The following criteria are used for determining the amount of a free agent’s cap hold:

First-round pick coming off rookie contract: 300% of the player’s previous salary if prior salary was below league average; 250% of previous salary if prior salary was above league average.
Bird player: 190% of previous salary (if below league average) or 150% (if above average).
Early Bird player: 130% of previous salary.
Non-Bird player: 120% of previous salary.
Minimum-salary player: Two-year veteran’s minimum salary, unless the free agent only has one year of experience, in which case it’s the one-year veteran’s minimum.
Two-way player: One-year veteran’s minimum salary.

A cap hold for a restricted free agent can vary based on his contract status. A restricted free agent’s cap hold is either his free agent amount as determined by the criteria mentioned above or the amount of his qualifying offer, whichever is greater.

No cap hold can exceed the maximum salary for which a player can sign. For example, the cap hold for an Early Bird player with a salary above the league average is generally 130% of his previous salary, as noted above. But for an Early Bird player like Rockets guard Fred VanVleet, whose cap charge is $42,846,615 this season, 130% of his previous salary would be approximately $55.7MM, well beyond his projected maximum salary.

Instead, assuming VanVleet’s team option is declined by Houston, his cap hold would be equivalent to the maximum salary for a player with between seven and nine years of NBA experience. Based on a projected cap of $154,647,000, that figure works out to $46,394,100. If the Rockets turn down VanVleet’s option and intend to re-sign him, that cap hold would remain on their books until his new deal is official and his new cap hit replaces the hold.

One unusual case involves players on rookie contracts whose third- or fourth-year options are declined. The amount of their declined option becomes their cap hold, and if the player’s team wants to re-sign him, his starting salary can’t exceed that amount.

For instance, the Grizzlies declined Jake LaRavia‘s 2025/26 fourth-year option last fall, then traded him to the Kings in February. Because LaRavia’s rookie scale option was turned down, Sacramento won’t be able to offer him a starting salary this offseason worth more than $5,163,127, the amount of that option. That figure is also his cap hold.

That rule is in place so a team can’t circumvent the rookie scale and decline its option in an effort to give the player a higher salary. It applies even if the player is traded after his option is declined, but only to the club the player is part of at season’s end. In other words, because LaRavia finished the year with the Kings, Sacramento is prohibited from offering him a starting salary greater than $5,163,127 as a free agent, but any other team – including Memphis – could exceed that figure.

If a team holds the rights to fewer than 12 players, cap holds worth the rookie minimum salary are assigned to fill out the roster. So, even if a front office chooses to renounce its rights to all of its free agents and doesn’t have any players under contract, the team wouldn’t be able to fully clear its cap.

An incomplete roster charge in 2025/26 projects to be worth $1,272,870, meaning a team without any guaranteed salary or any other cap holds would have closer to $139MM in cap room than $154MM+ due to its 12 rookie minimum holds.

A player who has been selected in the draft but has not yet officially signed his rookie contract only has a cap hold if he was a first-round selection. A cap hold for a first-round pick is equivalent to 120% of his rookie scale amount, based on his draft position. An unsigned second-round pick doesn’t have a cap hold.

Cap holds aren’t removed from a team’s books until the player signs a new contract or has his rights renounced by the club. For example, the Warriors are still carrying cap holds on their books for retired players like Matt Barnes and David West, who never signed new contracts since playing for Golden State nearly a decade ago.

Keeping those cap holds gives teams some degree of cushion to help them remain above the cap and take advantage of the mid-level exception and trade exceptions, among other advantages afforded capped-out teams. If and when the Warriors want to maximize their cap room, they’ll renounce Barnes and West, but they’ve remained over the cap – and haven’t needed to remove those holds – since those players became free agents in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.

Community Shootaround: Are NBA’s Top Seeds In Trouble?

May 6th, 2025 at 8:27am CST by Luke Adams

The second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs are off to an unexpected start, with the league’s top three regular season teams all dropping the first game of their respective series.

The 64-win Cavaliers, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, fell to the Pacers on Sunday, and the No. 2 Celtics followed suit on Monday by losing to the Knicks. In Monday’s late game, the Thunder, who led the league with 68 regular season wins and dominated Memphis in round one, blew a late-game lead to the Nuggets and lost Game 1.

None of the three games were one-sided. The Pacers and Cavaliers were neck-and-neck through three-and-a-half quarters before Indiana pulled away late in the game; the Knicks required overtime to sneak past the Celtics; and the Thunder fell to the Nuggets on an Aaron Gordon three-pointer in the game’s final seconds.

It’s also worth noting that the Pacers are unlikely to make nearly 53% of their three-point tries (19-of-36) on a regular basis, as they did in Game 1. The Celtics probably aren’t going to miss 45 three-point attempts (they went 15-of-60) very often. And the Thunder could have easily won Game 1 if not for some questionable fouling decisions in crunch time.

In other words, the higher seeds may have no reason to panic — it’s not as if their opponents found glaring weaknesses that can be exploited for the rest of the series. Still, the margin for error in a competitive matchup can be slim, and the fact that those three higher seeds have all given up home-court advantage already could come back to haunt them later in the series.

Of the three teams who trail 1-0 in their respective series, the Cavaliers appear to be in the most danger due in large part to their injury situation. Darius Garland has been out since Game 2 of the first round due to a toe injury and is considered questionable to play in Game 2 vs. Indiana. Evan Mobley (ankle) and De’Andre Hunter (thumb) have joined him on the injury report with the same questionable designation after suffering injuries in Game 1.

Still, oddsmakers don’t appear overly concerned about the top seeds just yet. Despite the fact that they’re trailing in their series, the Cavaliers (-230), Thunder (-325), and Celtics (-355) are listed as solid favorites to advance by BetOnline.ag at the time of this writing. By comparison, the Timberwolves are just a -200 favorite against the lower-seeded Warriors despite that series not yet getting underway.

We want to know what you think. Do you still expect the Cavaliers, Celtics, and Thunder to make it through to the conference finals, or have the Game 1 results of any of those three series made you more inclined to pick an underdog to advance?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts.

Poll: Who Will Win Rockets/Warriors Game 7?

May 3rd, 2025 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Despite going up against a No. 2 seed as a No. 7 team that required a play-in victory to clinch a playoff spot, the Warriors were considered by oddsmakers to be solid favorites in their first-round series against the Rockets.

In a competitive Western Conference, Golden State finished the regular season with only four fewer wins than Houston and was the better team after adding Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline, ranking third in the NBA in wins (23) and net rating (+9.2) between Butler’s debut and the end of the season. The Warriors also had a major edge in experience over the Rockets, whose young core would be playing in its first postseason series.

Through four games, it looked like the oddsmakers were right. The Warriors held a 3-1 series lead and had deployed their defense (ranked No. 1 in the NBA since Butler’s debut) to great effect, holding the Rockets to just 94.7 points per game in Houston’s three losses.

But the Rockets may have figured something out during the last two games, both of which they led from nearly start to finish. As the Warriors struggled to find five-man units they liked, subbing out starting guard Brandin Podziemski in Game 6 for Gary Payton II, Houston has found success with bigger lineups featuring center Steven Adams, who was a +30 in 48 minutes during those two victories.

And while it may not be sustainable, Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet has looked more like Stephen Curry than Curry himself in Games 5 and 6, knocking down 10-of-15 three-pointers (66.7%) and outscoring his Warriors counterpart by a 55-42 margin.

Jalen Green, Houston’s leading scorer during the season, still hasn’t found his groove in the playoffs — outside of his 38-point outburst in Game 2, he has averaged just 9.4 PPG on 30.2% shooting in the other five games. The Warriors also still have the experience advantage, as Curry, Butler, and Draymond Green are no strangers to Game 7 showdowns, whereas Rockets youngsters like Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, and Jabari Smith will be experiencing one for the first time.

But the Rockets have the momentum, they have the home-court advantage, and they’ve made Golden State look old and tired over the last couple games, as Marcus Thompson II writes for The Athletic. Curry continues to battle a thumb issue, while Butler is coming off a pelvic contusion. It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if the veteran Warriors bring their A-games on Sunday, but it’s also unclear how much they have left in the tank.

With all that in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that oddsmakers are giving a slight edge to Houston — according to BetOnline.ag, the Rockets are 2.5-point favorites.

We want to know what you think. Will the Warriors hold off the young, upstart Rockets, or will Houston complete its comeback from a 3-1 deficit and set up a second-round matchup against Minnesota?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to make your predictions and share your thoughts!

Several Teams Promoting Interim Head Coaches, Forgoing Searches

May 3rd, 2025 at 1:07pm CST by Luke Adams

It’s not uncommon for several NBA teams to be on the lookout for new head coaches each spring. During the 2022 offseason, four clubs hired new coaches; that number increased to six in 2023 and was six again in 2024.

It looked like that would trend would continue in 2025. The Kings made a coaching change in December 2024, with the Grizzlies and Nuggets following suit in March and April, respectively. The Suns fired Mike Budenholzer once their season ended and longtime Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich stepped down from his position for health reasons.

Despite the fact that five teams have parted ways with their head coaches in the past four-and-a-half months, only one of those clubs is currently conducting a head coaching search.

After finishing the season with a 27-24 under interim head coach Doug Christie, who reportedly had support from team owner Vivek Ranadive, the Kings opted to name Christie the permanent replacement for Mike Brown, finalizing a new multiyear contract agreement with him earlier this week.

The Grizzlies took the same path with Taylor Jenkins‘ in-season replacement, Tuomas Iisalo, removing his interim tag this week and announcing that he would be keeping the job.

In San Antonio, Mitch Johnson was technically the acting head coach and didn’t hold the interim title — that’s really just a technicality that reflects the fact that Popovich was still hoping to return at some point. But when Popovich decided to call it a career, the Spurs wasted no time confirming that Johnson would remain in the role and they wouldn’t be interviewing anyone else.

The Nuggets are still alive in the playoffs, so it’s possible – especially if they lose Game 7 of their first-round series to the Clippers on Saturday – that they could launch a full-fledged coaching search, with interim coach David Adelman receiving consideration as part of that search. But Adelman is widely respected within the organization, including by stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, so there’s a chance that Denver just sticks with him — especially if he leads the team to at least the second round of the postseason.

It’s not out of the question that other teams could make coaching changes this spring. However, most teams whose seasons are over have had time to think about it and probably would have made their move by now if they planned to do so. Willie Green of the Pelicans is one coach to monitor from this group, though one recent report said the “prevailing expectation” is that he’ll be retained by new head of basketball operations Joe Dumars.

While there has been no indication that a change is in the cards for either the Bucks or Hawks, Doc Rivers is another head coach worth keeping an eye on, as is Quin Snyder, who received a strong endorsement from general manager Landry Fields last month, only for Fields to be fired by Atlanta a few days later.

As for the teams still alive in the postseason, it seems relatively safe to assume that Kenny Atkinson, Joe Mazzulla, Rick Carlisle, Mark Daigneault, Chris Finch, Tyronn Lue, Ime Udoka, and Steve Kerr aren’t going anywhere unless they choose to.

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is perhaps the most at risk in this group, but he likely relieved some of the pressure he was facing by getting past Detroit in the first round. New York will enter the conference semifinals against Boston as a significant underdog, so unless the Knicks are embarrassed in that series, a coaching change may not be in their plans.

If no other teams replace their coaches this spring, it would leave the Suns in position to take their time with their own search, knowing they aren’t in danger of having their top choice poached by a rival team. Reports have already indicated that Phoenix plans to be patient as it seeks its fourth head coach in four seasons — the team is expected to identify 14 or 15 candidates, then pare that list down to a smaller group of finalists.

While there haven’t been any reports yet about candidates who have secured meetings or interviews with the Suns, the following names have been linked to the team’s coaching vacancy by various reporters:

Cavaliers assistants Johnnie Bryant and Jordan Ott
Mavericks assistants Sean Sweeney and Jared Dudley
Rockets assistants Royal Ivey and Ben Sullivan
Pelicans assistant James Borrego
Thunder assistant Dave Bliss
Heat assistant Chris Quinn
Former Kings coach Mike Brown
The Suns’ own assistant David Fizdale
Former Suns assistant (and current BYU head coach) Kevin Young

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