As expected, the majority of the NBA teams made their roster cuts on Saturday and didn’t wait until Monday’s deadline to set their regular season rosters.
Completing those moves on Saturday will ensure the players on non-guaranteed contracts clear waivers on Monday, before the regular season begins. If a team had waited until Monday to waive a player on a non-guaranteed deal, he wouldn’t clear waivers until Wednesday, and the team would be on the hook for two days’ worth of his salary.
After Saturday’s flurry of roster moves, here’s where things stand around the NBA…
Teams whose rosters are within the regular season limits
Of the NBA’s 30 teams, 27 have rosters that comply with the league’s regular season roster limits, which state that clubs can’t carry more than 15 players on standard contracts or three on two-way contracts.
The following 10 teams are right at the limit, carrying 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-ways:
- Charlotte Hornets
- Chicago Bulls
- Dallas Mavericks
- Indiana Pacers
- Memphis Grizzlies
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Sacramento Kings
- San Antonio Spurs
- Utah Jazz
Just because these rosters look ready for the regular season doesn’t necessarily mean they’re fully locked in. It wouldn’t be be a surprise if one or more of these teams makes a minor tweak before Monday’s regular season roster deadline. That could be as simple as swapping out one two-way player for another. It could also involve the standard roster.
For instance, maybe the Pacers decide that carrying one more point guard is more important than having four centers and decide to place a waiver claim on Jared Butler while waiving Tony Bradley and his non-guaranteed contract. I’m not saying that will happen or even that Indiana is considering that move — it’s just an example of what’s still possible before Monday’s deadline.
The following 15 teams are carrying 14 players on standard contracts and three on two-ways:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Boston Celtics
- Denver Nuggets
- Detroit Pistons
- Golden State Warriors
- Houston Rockets
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Los Angles Lakers
- Miami Heat
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New York Knicks
- Orlando Magic
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Phoenix Suns
- Toronto Raptors
Several of these teams are right up against a hard cap and don’t have the ability to add a 15th man to their standard rosters at this point. That’s the situation for the Warriors, Rockets, Clippers, Lakers, Knicks, and Magic.
Many others are operating in luxury tax territory or right near the tax line and will want to keep that 15th spot open for now in order to either keep their projected tax bill in check or maintain some financial flexibility.
That’s not the case for all of these teams though. The Pistons are well clear of the tax, for instance, and could comfortably make a roster addition if they want to.
Two more teams are within the regular season limits. Those teams are as follows:
- Cleveland Cavaliers: 14 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.
- Portland Trail Blazers: 15 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.
The Cavaliers and Trail Blazers both carried over one two-way player from last season (Nae’Qwan Tomlin for Cleveland; Sidy Cissoko for Portland) and signed a new two-way player on July 1 (Luke Travers and Caleb Love, respectively). Since then, both teams have had one two-way slot available, but I expect they’ll fill those openings sooner rather than later, given that there are no cap savings generated by keeping a two-way slot open.
It’s worth noting that players on Exhibit 10 contracts who were waived on Friday or Saturday could be claimed off waivers and immediately converted to two-way deals before Monday’s roster deadline.
Teams that still have moves to make before Monday’s deadline
That leaves three NBA teams that have yet to make the necessary moves to get within the regular season roster limits. Let’s run through them one by one…
Brooklyn Nets: 16 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.
The Nets are currently carrying 14 players on fully guaranteed salaries, with Jalen Wilson on a deal with a small partial guarantee ($88,075) and Tyrese Martin on a non-guaranteed contract.
There are a few things to keep in mind here. For one, neither Wilson nor Martin can be directly converted to a two-way contract, since neither is on an Exhibit 10 deal. So if Brooklyn intends to fill that two-way slot before the season begins, it will have to be via waiver claim or a free agent signing.
More importantly, the Nets are operating just $190K over the NBA’s minimum salary floor and absolutely want to be above that threshold when the regular season begins, since falling short would mean forfeiting their share of the end-of-season luxury tax payment. Waiving either Wilson or Martin would result in Brooklyn’s salary falling below the salary floor, since most or all of their minimum salaries would come off the team’s books.
Barring a Sunday or Monday trade, there are two solutions for the Nets here: Either they waive someone with a guaranteed contract or they cut one of Wilson or Martin and guarantee most or all of his 2025/26 salary on his way out. I think the latter scenario is probably more likely, since there aren’t many obvious release candidates among Brooklyn’s 14 players with guaranteed salaries, but we’ll see what the team decides. The decision is due by 4:00 pm Central time on Monday.
Milwaukee Bucks: 16 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals.
After deciding that Amir Coffey and his non-guaranteed contract would make the team, the Bucks were in position to put off their final roster move until Monday, since they’ll be cutting a player with a full or partially guaranteed salary — whichever player is the odd man out will get his money, regardless of which day he’s waived, so Milwaukee couldn’t create any cap savings by making that move a couple days before the roster deadline.
As we noted when we discussed the Bucks’ decision to retain Coffey on Saturday, it looks like Tyler Smith (guaranteed $1,955,377 salary) and Andre Jackson Jr. ($800K partial guarantee) are the two players who are most in danger of being cut. It’s possible that the club could trade or waive another player instead, but I’d be surprised if Milwaukee’s final preseason roster move involves anyone besides Smith or Jackson.
Neither one was great in the preseason, but Jackson was a little better and has shown more than Smith at the NBA level to this point in their respective careers. Retaining Smith would be the financially advantageous move, since waiving Jackson would reduce the team’s salary by about $1.42MM, but the Bucks aren’t close to the tax line and can afford to eat Smith’s full salary if they decide he’s not part of their future. I wouldn’t be surprised if they take that path.
Washington Wizards: 16 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals.
The Wizards are another team expected to cut a player with a guaranteed salary, which is why they can wait until Monday to make their last roster move. The only one of their 16 players with a non-guaranteed contract is Justin Champagnie, who was effective in a rotation role last season.
A trade is still possible, but a cut is more likely. And in that scenario, 2024 first-round pick Dillon Jones looks to me like the probable odd man out. He didn’t do much during his first NBA season in Oklahoma City, and the offseason trade that sent him to Washington was more about the second-round pick the Wizards got along with him than about Jones himself. He also wasn’t great in the preseason.
If the Wizards go in a different direction, it’s worth keeping an eye on former Spur Malaki Branham, who was acquired in exchange for Kelly Olynyk along with Blake Wesley and a second-round pick. Washington already waived Wesley and I haven’t gotten the sense that the club views Branham as a crucial part of its roster going forward.
Hoops Rumors’ roster resources
We consistently maintain and update a number of lists and trackers that are designed to help you keep tabs on NBA rosters. They’re all up to date following Saturday’s cuts.
Those resources, which can be found on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site or on the “Features” page within our mobile menu, include the following:
Entering the day, Eason looked like one of the top remaining candidates to sign a rookie scale extension, along with Nuggets wing Christian Braun and Hawks guard Dyson Daniels. However, while Braun and Daniels completed deals worth $25MM annually, the Rockets and Eason were unable to find common ground “on multiple fronts,” according to Charania.
2:07 pm: In order to set their 15-man standard roster for the regular season, the Wizards will waive