NBA:Contracts

NBA RealGM — League Rules

Reference	Contracts · Rosters · Salary Cap · League Spreadsheet
Transactions	Waivers · Trades · Options · Re-Signing · Draft · Free Agency · G League · Injured Reserve
Timeline	Off-Season · In-Season
Governance	League Structure · GM Responsibilities · Rule Changes
Tools	Re-Sign Calculator · Free Agency Bid Calculator

Every player holds a contract: a salary, a set of years, and sometimes a tag. This page is about reading them. For the rules that produce a contract, see Free Agency, Re-Signing, the Draft, or Trades.

Reading a contract

Jeff Malone (WAS - SG) $4,000,000 (2027)

Part	Meaning
`Jeff Malone`	Player
`(WAS - SG)`	Real NBA team, then the positions he is eligible at. The team is optional — it helps tell apart players who share a name
`$4,000,000`	Annual salary, the same every year of the contract
`(2027)`	Guaranteed through the 2026-2027 season

Years

A contract year is a single number, but an NBA season straddles two calendar years. (2028) means the 2027-2028 season — the league numbers seasons by the year they end in, and the player is a free agent that summer.

A contract is always written as it was originally signed. Years already played are not removed, so a 2nd-round pick keeps all his option years listed even after some have passed. The only exception is a draft-and-stash player.

Option years

An option year carries a trailing x and is a team option.

Xavier McDaniel (SEA - SF/PF) $2,606,200 (2026, 2027x)          one option
Mark Eaton (UTA - C) $495,000 (2025, ~2029x)               several
Mark Eaton (UTA - C) $495,000 (2025, 2026x, 2027x, 2028x, 2029x)

The ~ covers the unbroken run of options from the year after the guaranteed year through the final year shown; writing them out in full is equally clear.

Options are exercised or declined one season at a time. See Option Years.

Re-sign tags

Re-signs are limited to 3 per team, and the tags make that count checkable from the roster.

Tag	Meaning	Uses one of your 3?
`[RS]`	Re-signed by your team	Yes
`[RSBO]`	Re-Sign By Other — re-signed by another team, acquired by trade	No

Dennis Johnson (BOS - PG/SG) $10,900,000 (2026) [RS]
Trent Tucker (NYK - SG/SF) $6,600,000 (2027) [RSBO]

When a re-signed player is traded the tag becomes [RSBO] on his new team: the trading team's slot reopens immediately and the acquiring team spends none of its own. Count the [RS] tags and you know how many of a team's 3 slots are in use. See Re-Signing.

Notation is a convention, not a rule

The forms above are preferred and used throughout this wiki. Other formats appear on team rosters and are fine — TAB can read them.

What is required is that the information be there and be current: a re-signed player identifiable as such, a demotion post stating career games played, a roster post that reflects your actual team.

Contract types

Acquired by	Salary set by	Term	Written as
Free agency	Winning bid	1–4 years	`Caldwell Jones (HOU - C) $4,000,000 (2029)`
Re-signing	Formula	3–5 years	`Sleepy Floyd (GSW - PG) $10,100,000 (2028) [RS]`
1st-round pick	Draft slot	4 years + 1 option	`Xavier McDaniel (SEA - SF/PF) $2,606,200 (2026, 2027x)`
2nd-round pick	Draft slot	1 year + 4 options	`Mark Eaton (UTA - C) $495,000 (2025, ~2029x)`
Draft-and-stash	Draft slot	Set on arrival	`Juan Nunez $495,000 (----)`
Trade	Inherited	Inherited	Salary and years carry over; `[RS]` becomes `[RSBO]`

Players 35+ are limited to 2 years in free agency. The limit does not apply to re-signs.

Draft-and-stash

A drafted player who does not come to the NBA immediately is paid his draft-slot salary straight away, but his contract has no end date until he arrives:

Juan Nunez $495,000 (----)

When he comes over the dashes are replaced with real years — the only time a contract's written years change after signing. Which years he gets, and how a stashed player is released, are on Draft and Waivers.

Contracts and the cap

Every contract counts its full salary against the $60,000,000 cap, wherever the player sits. Waived players are the one exception.