The NBA salary cap is somewhat malleable, with various exceptions allowing every team to surpass the $123,655,000 threshold once their cap room is used up. In some cases, teams blow past not only the cap limit, but the luxury tax line of $150,267,000 as well — the Clippers and Warriors are among the clubs that project to have massive tax bills this season as a result of their spending.
The NBA doesn’t have a “hard cap” by default, which allows clubs like L.A. and Golden State to build a significant payroll without violating CBA rules. However, there are certain scenarios in which teams can be hard-capped, as we explain in a glossary entry.
When a club uses the bi-annual exception, acquires a player via sign-and-trade, or uses more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception (up to three years and/or $6,479,000), that club will face a hard cap for the remainder of the league year.
When a team becomes hard-capped, it cannot exceed the “tax apron” at any point during the rest of the league year. The tax apron for 2022/23 was set at $156,983,000.
So far, a third of the NBA’s teams have been willing to hard-cap themselves this offseason. Some teams will have to be aware of that hard cap when they consider any roster move for the rest of the season, but for others it’s just a technicality that won’t affect their plans in any meaningful way.
Listed below are the hard-capped teams for the 2022/23 league year, along with how they created a hard cap.
Memphis Grizzlies
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Kennedy Chandler.
Miami Heat
- Used bi-annual exception on Kevin Love.
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Kyle Anderson and Josh Minott.
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Jaylin Williams.
Orlando Magic
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Caleb Houstan.
Philadelphia 76ers
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on P.J. Tucker.
- Used bi-annual exception on Danuel House.
Portland Trail Blazers
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Gary Payton II.
Sacramento Kings
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Malik Monk.
Toronto Raptors
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Otto Porter Jr. and Christian Koloko.
Utah Jazz
- Acquired Collin Sexton via sign-and-trade.
Washington Wizards
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Delon Wright.
This list, which could continue to grow, will continue to be updated throughout the 2022/23 league year as necessary. It can be found anytime in the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Features” menu on our mobile site.
Reminder that the GSW ownership is the 25th wealthiest ownership in the NBA and if you hate the Warriors for spending, you are wrong – you should be hating your own team for being cheapskate losers who won’t go the extra mile required to win a title. I’m an A’s fan, I know this drill well.
What a strangely combative tone when there are no other comments. At the same time, the warriors are in the enviable position of spending money on pretty much their own players bc they drafter well, feel into a situation where they had money to sign Durant, then had his rights and could sign and trade him for Russell and then Wiggins. Other nba teams just don’t have the ability to go out and spend a fortune on any players even if they have the money, it’s not how it works.
What a strangely combative tone when there are no other comments. At the same time, the warriors are in the enviable position of spending money on pretty much their own players bc they drafted so well, fell into a situation where they had money to sign Durant into cap space, then had his rights and could sign and trade him for Russell and trade him for Wiggins. Other nba teams just don’t have the ability to go out and spend a fortune on any players even if they have the money, it’s not how it works.
I’m glad he reminded us. I had almost forgotten since last week
Chased, I’m with you on being critical of A’sfaninLexington. But, I’m not sure the Warriors “fell into” the ability to sign Kevin Durant. They had to trade away guys and include draft compensation. It was a lot of work to be able to fit Durant in.
Yes other teams have the ability to do what the Warriors do. Just hire a GM that knows what he’s doing (Bob Myers is a former agent and knows the ins and outs of contracts and salary cap etc. Plus he’s built relationships over the years) and hopefully have an owner willing to roll with the expenses necessary to put a winning team on the floor.
But I’m curious why you would say other teams don’t have the ability to spend like the Warriors even though they have the money?
What I mean is that the year Durant signed there was a boom in the salary cap which allowed them to sign Durant to a max deal while already having curry, Thompson, and green on big money deals. Of course nothing wrong with that but during a regular year they couldn’t just sign him as they wouldn’t have cap space to fit him in under the cap. All they actually did was trade Andrew bogut and renounce the rights to Harrison Barnes and some lesser important players.
Say this year giannis, jokic, embiid, booker, and morant were all free agents and decide to join one team for Max deals. It’s not even abiuban owner being willing to spend money to get all those guys. The salary cap isn’t high enough to allow all of them to sign Max deals at once no matter how much an owner is willing to spend.
And you’re absolutely right, the warriors have done a terrific job whether it be having a smart GM and an owner who has been willing to spend but I think they have also been in a position to do so. They drafted extremely well and made shrewd signing after shrewd signing. They spent to keep their core together and then were smart signing Durant and then were wiling to spend more money when he decided to leave to take on Russell’s contract and then Wiggins contract which was smart. (but it’s not like they could have signed another max free agent when Durant left, a sign and trade was the only way to get a guy making that kind of money.
Yes good point on that increased salary cap in the Durant year. Thinking that way yes it fell into place and the warriors were fortunate. But he could have gone anywhere as the cap Rose for every team. But yes great point.
100%. The warriors took advantage and built an insane team. Can’t blame them for it.
The Warriors can pay more for players because they make more money. Franchises are businesses, separate from their owners’ other wealth. They take in revenue and spend it (minus a profit) on personnel and other expenses. You or I could be the owner and it would make no difference: Owners don’t subsidize teams.
The Warriors bring in lots of money because they are in a huge market with lots of fans who can afford pricey tickets, and because they have been very good for a long time. Like the Lakers. To say that the Magic and Hornets (among many others) would have the same spending capacity if their owners felt like it is just naive drivel.
The warriors were a dumpster fire for 30 years before these owners. Aside from three pretty good seasons 92 or 93 or so and 2007, the Warriors were horribly run. And that was all on the owner, Chris Cohen.