For the first two months of the 2016/17 NBA season, virtually every team carried a full roster of 15 players. Most NBA teams wanted to see what they had on their 15-man rosters, assessing their offseason acquisitions, their young players, and their returning veterans.
Now that clubs have a better sense of where they stand, it makes sense to maintain a little more flexibility. A team with an open roster spot can easily add a free agent or acquire a player via trade without necessarily having to make a corresponding roster move. Ten-day contracts can be signed starting on January 5, so some teams will use their final roster spot to shuttle players in and out on short-term deals.
For the rest of the season, we’ll keep tabs on every team’s roster count in this space. This post, which can be found on the right-hand sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” will be updated frequently to reflect which teams have open roster spots, and which teams have players on non-guaranteed deals or 10-day contracts.
Here’s the current breakdown:
Teams with 15 fully guaranteed contracts:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Boston Celtics
- Brooklyn Nets
- Charlotte Hornets
- Chicago Bulls
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Dallas Mavericks
- Denver Nuggets
- Detroit Pistons
- Golden State Warriors
- Houston Rockets
- Indiana Pacers
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Miami Heat
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New Orleans Pelicans
- New York Knicks
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Orlando Magic
- Phoenix Suns
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Sacramento Kings
- San Antonio Spurs
- Toronto Raptors
- Utah Jazz
- Washington Wizards
Teams with more than 15 players due to having been granted a hardship exception:
(Numbers in parentheses indicate full-season contracts + 10-day contracts.)
- Philadelphia 76ers (16)
Teams with full 15-man rosters featuring at least one player on a 10-day contract:
(Numbers in parentheses indicate full-season contracts + 10-day contracts.)
- None
Teams with open roster spots:
(Number in parentheses indicates roster count, including full-season contracts and 10-day contracts.)
- None
Last updated: 4-12-17 (11:21pm CT)