{"id":225157,"date":"2025-10-19T13:03:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225157\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T13:03:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:03:07","slug":"checking-in-on-roster-situations-around-the-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225157\/","title":{"rendered":"Checking In On Roster Situations Around The NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

As expected<\/a>, the majority of the NBA teams made their roster cuts on Saturday and didn\u2019t wait until Monday\u2019s deadline to set their regular season rosters.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t clear waivers until Wednesday, and the team would be on the hook for two days\u2019 worth of his salary.<\/p>\n

After Saturday\u2019s flurry of roster moves, here\u2019s where things stand around the NBA\u2026<\/p>\n

Teams whose rosters are within the regular season limits<\/p>\n

Of the NBA\u2019s 30 teams, 27 have rosters that comply with the league\u2019s regular season roster limits<\/a>, which state that clubs can\u2019t carry more than 15 players on standard contracts or three on two-way contracts.<\/p>\n

The following 10 teams are right at the limit, carrying 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-ways:<\/p>\n

Charlotte Hornets
\nChicago Bulls
\nDallas Mavericks
\nIndiana Pacers
\nMemphis Grizzlies
\nNew Orleans Pelicans
\nOklahoma City Thunder
\nSacramento Kings
\nSan Antonio Spurs
\nUtah Jazz<\/p>\n

Just because these rosters look ready for the regular season doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they\u2019re fully locked in. It wouldn\u2019t be be a surprise if one or more of these teams makes a minor tweak before Monday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> while waiving Tony Bradley<\/a> and his non-guaranteed contract. I\u2019m not saying that will happen or even that Indiana is considering that move \u2014 it\u2019s just an example of what\u2019s still possible before Monday\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n

The following 15 teams are carrying 14 players on standard contracts and three on two-ways:<\/p>\n

Atlanta Hawks
\nBoston Celtics
\nDenver Nuggets
\nDetroit Pistons
\nGolden State Warriors
\nHouston Rockets
\nLos Angeles Clippers
\nLos Angles Lakers
\nMiami Heat
\nMinnesota Timberwolves
\nNew York Knicks
\nOrlando Magic
\nPhiladelphia 76ers
\nPhoenix Suns
\nToronto Raptors<\/p>\n

Several of these teams are right up against a hard cap and don\u2019t have the ability to add a 15th man to their standard rosters at this point. That\u2019s the situation for the Warriors, Rockets, Clippers, Lakers, Knicks, and Magic.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not the case for all of these teams though. The Pistons\u00a0are well clear of the tax, for instance, and could comfortably make a roster addition if they want to.<\/p>\n

Two more teams are within the regular season limits. Those teams are as follows:<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers: 14 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.
\nPortland Trail Blazers: 15 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers and Trail Blazers both carried over one two-way player from last season (Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin<\/a> for Cleveland; Sidy Cissoko<\/a> for Portland) and signed a new two-way player on July 1 (Luke Travers<\/a> and Caleb Love<\/a>, respectively). Since then, both teams have had one two-way slot available, but I expect they\u2019ll fill those openings sooner rather than later, given that there are no cap savings generated by keeping a two-way slot open.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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\u2019s roster deadline.<\/p>\n

Teams that still have moves to make before Monday\u2019s deadline<\/p>\n

That leaves three NBA teams that have yet to make the necessary moves to get within the regular season roster limits. Let\u2019s run through them one by one\u2026<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Nets: 16 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.<\/p>\n

The Nets are currently carrying 14 players on fully guaranteed salaries, with Jalen Wilson<\/a> on a deal with a small partial guarantee ($88,075) and Tyrese Martin<\/a> on a non-guaranteed contract.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

More importantly, the Nets are operating just $190K over the NBA\u2019s minimum salary floor<\/a> 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\u2019s salary falling below the salary floor, since most or all of their minimum salaries would come off the team\u2019s books.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t many obvious release candidates among Brooklyn\u2019s 14 players with guaranteed salaries, but we\u2019ll see what the team decides. The decision is due by 4:00 pm Central time on Monday.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee Bucks: 16 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals.<\/p>\n

After deciding that Amir Coffey<\/a> and his non-guaranteed contract would make the team<\/a>, the Bucks were in position to put off their final roster move until Monday, since they\u2019ll be cutting a player with a full or partially guaranteed salary \u2014 whichever player is the odd man out will get his money, regardless of which day he\u2019s waived, so Milwaukee couldn\u2019t create any cap savings by making that move a couple days before the roster deadline.<\/p>\n

As we noted when we discussed the Bucks\u2019 decision to retain Coffey on Saturday, it looks like Tyler Smith<\/a> (guaranteed $1,955,377 salary) and Andre Jackson Jr.<\/a> ($800K partial guarantee) are the two players who are most in danger of being cut. It\u2019s possible that the club could trade or waive another player instead, but I\u2019d be surprised if Milwaukee\u2019s final preseason roster move involves anyone besides Smith or Jackson.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s salary by about $1.42MM, but the Bucks aren\u2019t close to the tax line and can afford to eat Smith\u2019s full salary if they decide he\u2019s not part of their future. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if they take that path.<\/p>\n

Washington Wizards: 16 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, who was effective in a rotation role last season.<\/p>\n

A trade is still possible, but a cut is more likely. And in that scenario, 2024 first-round pick Dillon Jones<\/a> looks to me like the probable odd man out. He didn\u2019t do much during his first NBA season in Oklahoma City, and the offseason trade<\/a> 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\u2019t great in the preseason.<\/p>\n

If the Wizards go in a different direction, it\u2019s worth keeping an eye on former Spur Malaki Branham<\/a>, who was acquired<\/a> in exchange for Kelly Olynyk<\/a> along with Blake Wesley<\/a> and a second-round pick. Washington already waived Wesley and I haven\u2019t gotten the sense that the club views Branham as a crucial part of its roster going forward.<\/p>\n

Hoops Rumors\u2019 roster resources<\/p>\n

We consistently maintain and update a number of lists and trackers that are designed to help you keep tabs on NBA rosters. They\u2019re all up to date following Saturday\u2019s cuts.<\/p>\n

Those resources, which can be found on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site or on the \u201cFeatures\u201d page within our mobile menu, include the following:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As expected, the majority of the NBA teams made their roster cuts on Saturday and didn\u2019t wait until…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-225157","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}