NBA teams are permitted to carry up to 20 players in the offseason and the preseason, allowing them to audition training camp invitees and hold battles for roster spots before having to make cuts in advance of the regular season.
Teams structure their 20-man rosters in different ways, but a common avenue is the one currently taken by the Heat. Miami has 14 players on guaranteed contracts who are expected to make the team’s regular season roster, plus a pair of players on two-way contracts. The other four players on the 20-man squad are camp invitees on Exhibit 10 deals, who will likely end up being waived and playing for the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Not all teams have such a clean, easily-defined structure to their 20-man roster though. The Grizzlies, for instance, currently have 18 players on fully guaranteed contracts, plus one on a two-way deal and one on an Exhibit 10 pact. They’ll have to trade or release at least three players with guaranteed salaries before opening night, and will likely still fill their second two-way slot at some point.
The Heat and Grizzlies are just two of the teams that currently have full 20-man rosters. With the help of our roster counts tool, here’s the full list of clubs with full rosters:
- Charlotte Hornets
- Dallas Mavericks
- Houston Rockets
- Indiana Pacers
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Miami Heat
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Toronto Raptors
While it’s possible some of these teams will make roster moves, shuffling players on and off their 20-man squads within the next week, most of them look relatively set for training camp, which begins next Tuesday.
Besides the eight clubs listed above, there are four teams who have at least one roster spot available but have reportedly reached an agreement to sign a player to fill that opening. Those teams are as follows:
- Atlanta Hawks
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Sacramento Kings
- Washington Wizards
The Hawks currently have 19 players under contract and have reportedly agreed to sign Jahlil Okafor and Ibi Watson, so they’ll likely have to cut someone to accommodate both signings, depending on the order of operations. The Pelicans are in a similar boat — they have 18 players on their roster and have agreed to deals with Jared Harper, James Banks III, and Malcolm Hill.
The Kings, meanwhile, are carrying 18 players and have agreed to sign DJ Steward and Matt Coleman. The Wizards have 19 players under contract and are reportedly expected to sign undrafted rookie Kyree Walker.
The Clippers qualify for this group too — sort of. They have 19 players under contract, and their 20th spot could go to Amir Coffey, who is the NBA’s last remaining restricted free agent.
The rest of the NBA’s teams have at least one open spot on their roster, and some have a few openings still available. The Suns, for example, only have 15 players under contract, so they could theoretically sign five more players.
However, while many teams will fill their open roster spots by the start of training camp, some may simply not carry full 20-man rosters during the preseason. Since they don’t have their own G League affiliate, the Suns likely won’t make it a priority to audition players who could end up playing at that level. It won’t be surprising if Phoenix’s only camp invitees are players who have a legitimate chance at sticking with the team for the regular season.
I checked the roster counts. Do unsigned second rounders need to be brought to camp? In the Nets’ case, I don’t think they will.
I don’t see any reason why unsigned players would be brought to camp unless the team is intending to sign them at some point in the near future.
No, we usually include them in the roster counts during the summer because almost all are eventually signed, but it’s starting to seem like the Nets’ two guys won’t be.