Dead Money: Team Rankings

Not every dollar of each team’s payroll shows up on the court, as franchises often dish out funds to players who are no longer on their rosters or even in the league in some instances. Players with guaranteed money who are waived, either through a standard waiver release, use of the stretch provision, or when a buyout arrangement is reached, still count against a team’s cap figure for the duration of their contracts, or the amount of time specified by the collective bargaining agreement for when a player’s salary is stretched. NBA teams are currently in line to pay out approximately $76,938,241 in salary to players who are no longer on their rosters, with the Sixers topping out at an astronomical $28,493,696. You can view the full dead money breakdowns for the Atlantic, Central, Southeast, Northwest, Southwest and Pacific Divisions by clicking on the corresponding hyperlinks. Listed in descending order below are how each NBA team ranks in amount of dead money on the books this season:

1. Sixers — $28,493,696
2. Pistons — $9,353,478
3. Wizards — $5,823,926
4. Nets — $5,627,366
5. Celtics — $3,819,456
6. Timberwolves — $3,725,000
7. Trail Blazers — $3,083,181
8. Nuggets — $2,550,480
9. Mavericks — $1,898,129
10. Bucks — $1,865,547
11. Jazz — $1,527,476
12. Clippers — $1,412,964
13. Grizzlies — $1,394,377
14. Suns — $1,379,261
15. Magic — $1,195,059
16. Kings — $937,630
17. Lakers — $620,035
18. Pacers — $606,178
19. Spurs — $507,711
20. Bulls — $333,333
21. Knicks — $275,000
22. Raptors — $150,000
23. Pelicans — $115,771
24. Rockets — $88,187
25. Hornets — $80,000
26. Hawks — $75,000
27. Cavaliers — $0
28. Heat — $0
29. Thunder — $0
30. Warriors — $0

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.