NBA teams have until Monday night (Oct. 21) to officially set their rosters for the 2024/25 regular season. However, a majority of NBA teams will likely have their rosters ready to go on Saturday, with far more roster cuts expected today and tomorrow than on Sunday or Monday.
Why is that? Well, releasing a player on Saturday will ensure he clears waivers on Monday, before the regular season gets underway.
Players who are cut during the season are also paid for each day they spend on waivers, so a player who hits waivers on Sunday and doesn’t clear until the first day of the season on Tuesday would technically earn one day’s worth of pay, even if his contract isn’t guaranteed. A player released on Monday would spend two regular season days on waivers.
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For players with partial or full guarantees, spending the first day or two of the regular season on waivers doesn’t really matter, since they’re getting their full 2024/25 salary (or their partial guarantees) no matter when they’re released. But if a team waits until Monday to cut a player with a non-guaranteed salary, that team will be on the hook for two days’ worth of dead money for the player.
Two days’ worth of dead money won’t exactly break the bank — it would range from about $13K to $38K for a minimum-salary player. Still, most teams already know which players are in and which are out, so there’s no need to take the decision down to the wire on Monday. They’ll make those cuts sooner rather than later to avoid adding extra cap charges to their books for ’24/25. Even that small amount of savings could be important for teams who are right around the tax line or up against a hard cap.
While many teams will make their cuts on Saturday, a handful of clubs can afford to wait an extra day or two if they want to, since they’ll be waiving (or trading) players who have full or partial guarantees.
The Timberwolves, for instance, have 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts, plus PJ Dozier on a partially guaranteed contract, so unless they can find a trade involving one of those 16 players, they’ll need to waive one of them. Waiting until Sunday or Monday to make that cut won’t affect their cap outlook at all, since everyone is assured of receiving his full-season salary either way (except Dozier, who is assured of earning at least his $1MM partial guarantee).
Additionally, teams whose final roster moves won’t involve placing a player on waivers can afford to wait until Monday to complete those moves.
For example, the Magic currently have 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts, one on a two-way contract, and five on Exhibit 10 deals. While we don’t know exactly what the team’s plan is, Orlando could cut three of those Exhibit 10 players today, then convert the other two to two-way contracts on Monday in order to set its roster for the regular season.