NBA:Salary Cap

NBA RealGM — League Rules

Every team spends against the same ceiling, at every point in the year. This page covers what counts against it, and what you still owe for players who have left.

The cap

$60,000,000. The same for every team, binding at all times including the off-season. There is no window in which you may exceed it.

This is the one constraint with no seasonal relief: roster size stops applying between opening days, the cap never does.

What counts against it

Every player you are paying counts his full salary, wherever he sits — active, G League, or Injured Reserve.

Assigning a player to the G League or moving him to IR frees an active roster spot, never cap space.

Waived players are the only case where a contract counts for less than its full value.

Calculating your cap space

Cap Space = Salary Cap − Total Salary − Cap Hits

Total Salary is your players only — active, G League and IR. It does not include cap hits, which are counted separately.

From the example roster:

  $57,477,800   13 player salaries
+  $2,400,000   4 cap hits
+    $122,200   cap space
= $60,000,000   salary cap

Cap hits

Money you owe for a player no longer on your roster. Each has a cause, an amount, and an end year — dead money rolls off.

Cause	Amount	Duration
Waiving a player	40% of salary	Through the last guaranteed year
Waiving a draft-and-stash player before he comes over	40% of salary	One year
Bidding over the cap in free agency	40% of the contract you offered	One year

The stashed-player case is separate because a stashed contract has no end date to calculate against.

Which years

Through your last guaranteed year — which includes any option you have exercised, since exercising guarantees that season — stopping at the first option you have not decided. Waivers has the calculation and worked examples.

How a waiver hit lands

The 40% is assumed the moment the waiver is posted, not when the player clears, so waiving frees 60% of the salary immediately. A player claimed by another team costs you nothing at all.

The roster spot frees too, and it frees in full — check the cap number rather than assuming the money followed the spot.

Timing

Drafted players count from selection. A pick is signed the moment it is posted, so his slot salary lands on your cap immediately. Enter the draft already holding room for every pick you intend to make.

You may not bid more than your cap space. An over-cap bid that wins anyway costs you 40% of the contract you offered, for a year, and you do not get the player. See Free Agency.

The off-season changes nothing. Options, re-signs, the draft and free agency all happen under the same ceiling.

Contract integrity

Contracts are fixed.

Altering a player's salary or years is grounds for immediate removal from the league. If a figure looks wrong, raise it with TAB rather than adjusting it.

See also

• Rosters — the three roster counts and the summary block
• Contracts — how salary and years are written
• Waivers — the 48-hour process and the 40% hit
• Free Agency — bidding within your space
• Re-Signing — the $11,500,000 re-sign maximum