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The Bucks Players Who Benefited Most From NBA Cup Prize Money

December 18th, 2024 at 7:39am CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks‘ team salary this season is approximately $193MM, which is over the second tax apron and far exceeds the $160.4MM on the Thunder‘s books.

However, only two players on Oklahoma City’s roster are on minimum-salary contracts and just three of 15 Thunder players on standard deals are earning less than $3MM this season. By comparison, Milwaukee has eight players with salaries below $3MM, plus a ninth earning just a hair above $3MM. Seven of those nine players are earning their respective minimums.

While the $514,970 bonus for winning the NBA Cup may be a drop in the bucket for maximum-salary Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, it represents a significant pay raise for the players on the lower two-thirds of Milwaukee’s cap sheet, as well as the players on two-way contracts who will receive bonuses worth $257,485 apiece.

[RELATED: Details On NBA Cup Prize Money For 2024]

The NBA Cup prize money results in at least a 17% raise for each of the following Bucks players, whose 2024/25 salaries are noted in parentheses:

Players receiving a $514,970 bonus:

Players receiving a $257,485 bonus:

The bonuses for Smith and the Bucks’ two-way players represent a raise of roughly 44.5% on their respective base salaries.

None of this prize money will count against the salary cap, so the Bucks’ team salary for cap, tax, and apron purposes remains unchanged, as do the team salaries for Oklahoma City and the other six clubs who made the knockout round of the IST. Their prize money is as follows:

  • Oklahoma City Thunder: $205,988 per player ($102,994 for two-way players)
  • Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets: $102,994 per player ($51,497 for two-ways)
  • Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Orlando Magic: $51,497 per player ($25,749 for two-ways)
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Players Traded After Monday Can’t Be Re-Aggregated By Feb. 6 Deadline

December 16th, 2024 at 10:05am CST by Luke Adams

As we explain in our glossary entry on salary aggregation, when a team trades for a player by matching salaries or using a cap exception, that team is typically ineligible to aggregate the player’s salary in a second trade for the next two months.

However, the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement includes one exception to that rule. A player traded on or before December 16 can always be “re-aggregated” on the day before – or the day of – that season’s trade deadline.

The deal sending Thomas Bryant from Miami to Indiana on Sunday likely wasn’t made with that rule in mind — that was simply a case of the Pacers badly needing a backup center and going ahead with their acquisition of Bryant as soon as he became trade-eligible on December 15.

But the aggregation rule looks like one important reason why the Warriors and Nets moved quickly on their trade involving Dennis Schröder and De’Anthony Melton once Melton became trade-eligible on Sunday. Having completed that deal by December 16, Golden State will be eligible to aggregate Schröder’s $13MM expiring contract with other salaries on February 5 or 6, while Brooklyn will have the ability to do the same with Melton’s $12.8MM expiring contract.

Any player who is acquired in a trade via salary-matching or an exception after Monday will be ineligible to be aggregated at this season’s Feb. 6 trade deadline.

Now, there are two important points worth clarifying here. The first is what exactly it means to “aggregate” a contract.

Our glossary entry covers this rule in more depth, but aggregating a player’s salary with another salary means combining the two cap figures for matching purposes. For instance, a team operating over the cap and below the tax aprons can’t trade a $15MM player for a $35MM player, but that team could aggregate its $15MM player with a $20MM player in order to legally acquire the $35MM player.

Crucially, sending out multiple players in the same trade doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be aggregated. For example, if a team sends out a $15MM player and a $5MM player for a single player earning $15MM, there’s no need to aggregate the two outgoing salaries, since the $15MM player is enough to legally match the incoming $15MM salary on his own. So a player traded on Dec. 20 could still be flipped at the deadline in a multi-player trade — his salary simply couldn’t be combined with another player’s for matching purposes within that deal.

Only teams operating below the second tax apron are permitted to aggregate salaries, meaning this rule – and the Dec. 16 exception to it – won’t matter much for the four clubs currently above the second apron: Boston, Phoenix, Minnesota, and Milwaukee. Even if one of those teams were to trade for a player today, that player couldn’t be aggregated at the deadline unless his new team was able to shed enough salary to move below the second apron.

The second point worth clarifying is that this restriction doesn’t apply to players who are acquired using cap room. The Pistons are the only club currently operating under the cap, but they have about $14MM in space after waiving Paul Reed and signing Javante McCoy, meaning they’re in a great position to trade for one or more players without sending out any matching salary.

Let’s say the Pistons use their remaining cap room to acquire a player earning $14MM. Even if they make that trade on February 5, they could turn around and aggregate their new player’s salary with, say, Isaiah Stewart‘s $15MM cap hit the very next day in order to acquire a player earning $30MM. Because the $14MM player was acquired using cap room and not using an exception or by salary-matching, Detroit wouldn’t face the two-month aggregation restriction.

There has been no indication that any more trades will be made on Monday, but if they are, it’s worth keeping this rule in mind, since it will likely be a key reason for the timing of the move.

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2024/25 In-Season NBA Trades

December 16th, 2024 at 7:46am CST by Luke Adams

As we did with 2024’s offseason trades and the in-season swaps from 2023/24, we’ll be keeping track of all the NBA trades completed this season, updating this article with each transaction. This post can be found anytime throughout the season on our desktop sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or in our mobile menu under “Features.”

Trades are listed here in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top. So, if a player has been dealt multiple times, the first team listed as having acquired him is the one that ended up with him. Trades listed in italics have been agreed upon but are not yet official. For more details on each trade, click the date above it.

For more information on the specific conditions dictating if and when draft picks involved in these deals will actually change hands, be sure to check out RealGM.com’s breakdown of the details on traded picks.

Here’s the full list of the trades completed during the 2024/25 NBA season:

February 6

February 6

  • Clippers acquire Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Timberwolves’ 2025 second-round pick, the Grizzlies’ 2026 second-round pick (43-60 protected), and their own 2027 second-round pick.
  • Hawks acquire Terance Mann and Bones Hyland.

February 6

  • Cavaliers acquire De’Andre Hunter.
  • Hawks acquire Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, the Cavaliers’ 2027 second-round pick, the Cavaliers’ 2029 second-round pick, the Cavaliers’ 2031 second-round pick, the right to swap first-round picks with the Cavaliers in 2026 and the right to swap their 2028 first-round pick for either the Cavaliers’ or Jazz’s 2028 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
  • Note: The terms on the 2026 swap will be extremely convoluted because other teams have the right to swap first-round picks with both Atlanta and Cleveland. Essentially, the Hawks will have the ability to swap the least favorable of their own 2026 first-round pick and the Spurs’ pick for whichever pick the Cavaliers end up with (either their own pick, the Jazz’s pick, or the Timberwolves’ pick).

February 6

  • Lakers acquire Mark Williams.
  • Hornets acquire Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, the Lakers’ 2031 first-round pick, and the right to swap their 2030 first-round pick for the Lakers’ 2030 first-round pick.

This traded was voided when Williams didn’t pass a physical with the Lakers.

February 6

  • Rockets acquire Cody Zeller and their own 2028 second-round pick.
  • Hawks acquire the draft rights to Alpha Kaba.

February 6

  • Bucks acquire Kyle Kuzma, Jericho Sims, either the Pistons’, Suns’, or Warriors’ 2025 second-round pick (whichever is second-most favorable; from Wizards), and the Jazz’s 2026 second-round pick (top-55 protected; from Spurs).
  • Wizards acquire Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, the draft rights to Mathias Lessort (from Knicks), the right to swap their own 2028 first-round pick for the Bucks’ 2028 first-round pick or the Trail Blazers’ 2028 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable), and cash ($1MM; from Bucks).
  • Knicks acquire Delon Wright, the draft rights to Hugo Besson (from Bucks), and cash ($2MM; from Bucks).
  • Spurs acquire Patrick Baldwin Jr. and cash ($4.13MM; from Bucks).
  • Note: If the Trail Blazers haven’t conveyed their lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick by 2027 and it lands outside the lottery in 2028, it would be ineligible to be swapped; in that scenario, the Wizards would simply have the right to swap their own 2028 first-round pick for the Bucks’ 2028 first-round pick.

February 6

  • Hornets acquire Jusuf Nurkic and either the Suns’, Wizards’ (9-30 protected), Magic’s, or Grizzlies’ 2026 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
  • Suns acquire Cody Martin, Vasilije Micic, and a 2026 second-round pick.

February 6

  • Raptors acquire James Wiseman and cash ($2MM).
  • Pacers acquire the Raptors’ 2026 second-round pick (top-55 protected).

February 6

February 6

February 6

  • Warriors acquire Jimmy Butler and cash ($110K; from Pistons).
  • Heat acquire Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, Davion Mitchell, and the Warriors’ 2025 first-round pick (top-10 protected).
  • Pistons acquire Dennis Schröder, Lindy Waters, and either the Warriors’ or Timberwolves’ 2031 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Warriors).
  • Jazz acquire KJ Martin, Josh Richardson, either the Pistons’ (56-60 protected), Knicks’, Hornets’, Clippers’, or Heat’s 2028 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Pistons), either the Heat’s or Pacers’ 2031 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable; from Heat), and cash ($563,655; from Heat).
  • Raptors acquire P.J. Tucker, the Lakers’ 2026 second-round pick (from Heat), and cash ($3.5MM; from Heat).
  • Note: If the Mavericks’ first-round pick lands in the top two of the 2027 draft, the Heat’s 2028 second-round pick would be sent to Charlotte and would no longer be in play for the Jazz.

February 6

  • Pistons acquire KJ Martin, the Bucks’ 2027 second-round pick, and the Mavericks’ 2031 second-round pick.
  • Sixers acquire cash ($110K).

February 6

  • Wizards acquire Reggie Jackson and either the Thunder’s, Rockets’ (top-four protected), or Clippers’ 2026 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
  • Sixers acquire Jared Butler (two-way), either the Warriors’ or Suns’ 2027 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable), the Warriors’ 2028 second-round pick, the Wizards’ 2030 second-round pick, and either the Suns’ or Trail Blazers’ 2030 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).

February 6 (+ additional story)

  • Mavericks acquire Caleb Martin and the Sixers’ 2030 second-round pick.
  • Sixers acquire Quentin Grimes and either the Sixers’ or Nuggets’ 2025 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).

February 6

  • Rockets acquire Jaden Springer, either the Trail Blazers’ or Pelicans’ pick (whichever is least favorable; top-55 protected), and the Celtics’ 2030 second-round pick.
  • Celtics acquire the Rockets’ 2031 second-round pick (top-55 protected).

February 5

  • Kings acquire Jonas Valanciunas.
  • Wizards acquire Sidy Cissoko, the Nuggets’ 2028 second-round pick (top-33 protected), and the Kings’ 2029 second-round pick.

February 5

  • Thunder acquire Daniel Theis and either the Pelicans’ or Magic’s 2031 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
  • Pelicans acquire cash ($1MM).

February 3

  • Hornets acquire the Suns’ 2029 second-round pick.
  • Thunder acquire the Nuggets’ 2030 second-round pick.

February 3

  • Spurs acquire De’Aaron Fox and Jordan McLaughlin.
  • Kings acquire Zach LaVine, Sidy Cissoko, the Hornets’ 2025 first-round pick (top-14 protected; from Spurs), the Spurs’ 2027 first-round pick, the Timberwolves’ 2031 first-round pick, the Bulls’ 2025 second-round pick (from Spurs), the Nuggets’ 2028 second-round pick (top-33 protected; from Spurs), and their own 2028 second-round pick (from Bulls).
  • Bulls acquire Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins, Tre Jones, and their own 2025 first-round pick (from Spurs).
  • Note: The Bulls’ 2025 second-round pick had previously been controlled by the Spurs (if in the top 55) or Kings (if 56 or later). The Kings acquired it unconditionally as part of this trade.

February 2

February 1

  • Clippers acquire Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills.
  • Jazz acquire P.J. Tucker, Mohamed Bamba, either the Clippers’ or Jazz’s 2030 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable), and cash ($852K).
  • Note: The Jazz had previously acquired the right to swap their own 2030 second-round pick for the Clippers’ 2030 second-rounder. They now control both picks.

January 21

  • Jazz acquire the Suns’ 2031 first-round pick.
  • Suns acquire either the Cavaliers’ or Timberwolves’ 2025 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable); either the Cavaliers’, Timberwolves’, or Jazz’s 2027 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable); and either the Cavaliers’, Timberwolves’, or Jazz’s 2029 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).

January 15

  • Suns acquire Nick Richards and either the Nuggets’ or Sixers’ 2025 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
  • Hornets acquire Josh Okogie, the Nuggets’ 2026 second-round pick, the Suns’ 2031 second-round pick, and the Nuggets’ 2031 second-round pick.

December 29

December 15

  • Warriors acquire Dennis Schröder and the Heat’s 2025 second-round pick (top-37 protected).
  • Nets acquire De’Anthony Melton, Reece Beekman (two-way), the Hawks’ 2026 second-round pick, the Hawks’ 2028 second-round pick, and the Warriors’ 2029 second-round pick.

December 15

  • Pacers acquire Thomas Bryant.
  • Heat acquire the right to swap their own 2031 second-round pick with the Pacers’ 2031 second-round pick.
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85 NBA Players Newly Eligible To Be Traded

December 15th, 2024 at 5:41am CST by Luke Adams

Today is December 15, which means that – by our count – 85 NBA players who signed as free agents this offseason have officially become eligible to be traded.

The list of newly trade-eligible players, which can be found right here, features a number of guys who almost certainly aren’t going anywhere this season, such as Pacers forward Pascal Siakam and Sixers forward Paul George.

However, it also includes some players whose names have already popped up in trade speculation in the months since they were signed, such as Wizards center Jonas Valanciunas.

Additionally, two of the players on the list are part of trades that have already been agreed to, with Thomas Bryant heading from Miami to Indiana and De’Anthony Melton on the move from Golden State to Brooklyn. Now that it’s December 15, those agreed-upon deals can be officially completed anytime.

LeBron James, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, Klay Thompson, Tobias Harris, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Russell Westbrook are among the other biggest names who are newly trade-eligible as of Sunday.

Twelve of the players on the list, including LeBron and Harden, can’t be dealt without their consent, since they have the ability to veto trades this season. The Nuggets and Suns are each carrying multiple players who fit that bill.

Ten more newly trade-eligible players are still on non-guaranteed contracts, including a pair of Pacers. If one of those players is included in a trade prior to the league-wide salary guarantee date of January 10, only the non-guaranteed portion of his salary would count for matching purposes for the team trading him away (the team acquiring him would still have to account for the player’s full cap hit).

[RELATED: Trade Rules For Non-Guaranteed Salaries]

Finally, it’s worth noting that there are still a number of recently signed players around the NBA who remain ineligible to be dealt. Many will become trade-eligible on January 15, while others have specific dates to watch.

Typically, teams wait until closer to the trade deadline (February 6) to make their moves rather than striking deals as soon as trade season unofficially opens on December 15, but this season is an exception to the rule, with two agreements already ready to be finalized. Assuming at least one of them is officially completed today, it will be the first time since 2010 that a trade has been made on December 15.

While it’s possible more trade agreement will be reached in the coming days as talks begin to heat up, we should count on most of the in-season trade activity occurring in January and February.

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Five Players On Two-Way Deals Who Could Be Promoted

December 13th, 2024 at 10:52am CST by Rory Maher

As Luke Adams explains in our glossary entry, the two-way contract was introduced in the NBA’s 2017 collective bargaining agreement, with additional changes ratified in the 2023 CBA. Players who signed two-way deals before the season began will earn $578,577 in 2024/25, half of the rookie minimum.

There are certain stipulations for players on two-way contracts. They are not eligible for the postseason, and if a team has a full 15-man standard roster, they can only be active for up to 50 games. In cases where a team has fewer than 15 players on standard contracts, two-way players are even more restricted in how many games they’re permitted to be active.

Three players on two-way contracts have already been converted to standard deals in ’24/25 — Scotty Pippen Jr. and Jay Huff each received four-year deals from the Grizzlies, who used part of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to complete the transactions. The Knicks also promoted rookie big man Ariel Hukporti a two-year standard contract using the minimum-salary exception.

Here are five more players on two-way deals who are candidates to be promoted to standard contracts.

Ajay Mitchell, G, Thunder

Mitchell is arguably the strongest candidate to be converted to a standard deal. There’s also a straightforward pathway for Oklahoma City to complete the transaction — the team would only need to waive rookie big man Branden Carlson, who is on a non-guaranteed standard contract.

A 6’5″ guard from Belgium, Mitchell was the No. 38 overall pick of June’s draft after starring in college at UC Santa Barbara. Not only has the 22-year-old been active for every game thus far for the Thunder, who lead the Western Conference with a 19-5 record, he has also appeared in all 24 contests as a rotation regular, averaging 5.6 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 1.7 APG and 0.9 SPG, with a shooting line of .478/.418/.800 in 16.0 MPG.

Brandon Boston, G/F, Pelicans

The No. 51 overall pick of the 2021 draft, Boston spent his first three seasons on a standard deal with the Clippers, who let him walk in free agency over the offseason. He wound up signing an Exhibit 10 deal with San Antonio for training camp, was released before the season started, and was claimed off waivers by New Orleans and converted to a two-way deal.

It turned out to be a shrewd decision, as the 23-year-old has played a significant role for the injury-ravaged Pelicans, averaging 12.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.3 APG and 1.5 SPG in 23 games, including 10 starts (27.5 MPG). While Boston hasn’t been the most efficient scorer — his shooting slash line is .436/.323/.851, with a 53.8% true shooting percentage — he’s one of the few (active) players on the roster who can create offense for himself and others.

New Orleans only has 14 players on standard contracts right now and has shown a reluctance to carry a 15th man due to luxury tax concerns, so the Pelicans are unlikely to consider a promotion for Boston until he has reached his game limit or the team has ducked below the tax line with a trade.

Jamison Battle, F, Raptors

An undrafted rookie out of Ohio State, Battle has been active for 25 of Toronto’s 26 games, averaging 5.8 PPG and 2.0 RPG while shooting 44.0% from long distance in 24 appearances (13.6 MPG).

Although there’s a pathway to convert the 24-year-old sharpshooter, it would require the Raptors to cut a veteran — perhaps big man Bruno Fernando, who is on a non-guaranteed contract. There’s no rush for Toronto to make a decision on Fernando until the Jan. 7 deadline though, so if Battle does get promoted, I’d expect it to occur later in the season.

Dru Smith, G, Heat

At first glance, Smith doesn’t seem like the most obvious candidate to have his two-way contract converted. The 26-year-old missed most of last season with a torn ACL, and has only appeared in 10 games thus far in ’24/25.

However, he has played a major role off the bench lately. As Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes, Smith logged a career-high 34 minutes in Thursday’s victory over Toronto, including the entire fourth quarter for the third straight game, earning praise from team captain Bam Adebayo.

“He’s just making the right plays every time down the court,” Adebayo said of Smith’s impact.

The tricky part about converting Smith is the Heat have a high payroll, which is why they’re only carrying 14 players on standard contracts. They’ll likely wait until after the trade deadline so that they don’t surpass the second tax apron and limit their trade options, but if Smith keeps playing like he has been lately, it seems like a matter of when, not if, he gets promoted.

[UPDATE: The Heat’s impending trade of Thomas Bryant could open the door for Smith to be promoted sooner rather than later.

Jordan Miller, F, Clippers

Second-year forward Miller rounds out our five-player list. In 14 appearances in ’24/25, the 2023 second-round pick has averaged 7.9 PPG, 2.5 RPG and 1.3 APG in 16.3 MPG, with a shooting line of .467/.304/.773. Those numbers might not jump off the page, but Miller is a solid, versatile defender who can drive, draw fouls, and create for himself and others.

With Derrick Jones (hamstring strain) out for at least a couple weeks and Kawhi Leonard (knee) still ramping up to make his season debut, Miller has a major opportunity to make himself an indispensable part of head coach Tyronn Lue‘s rotation.

In order for Miller to be promoted, the Clips would need to either waive someone from their standard 15-man roster or make a trade. P.J. Tucker is the team’s most obvious candidate to be traded or released.

Some other two-way players to keep an eye on:

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How Injuries To Players On Non-Guaranteed Contracts Have Impacted Teams’ Caps

December 6th, 2024 at 10:01pm CST by Luke Adams

In most cases, an NBA team has the ability to waive a player on a non-guaranteed contract at any time before the league-wide salary guarantee date on January 7 to avoid being on the hook for the remainder of that player’s salary.

However, that equation changes if the player is injured at the time he’s placed on waivers. In that case, one of two rules applies:

  1. If the player’s contract includes Exhibit 9 language, the team incurs a cap hit of $15K when the injured player is waived.
  2. If the player’s contract does not include Exhibit 9 language and he’s waived on or before January 7, the team continues to pay the player until he has fully recovered from the injury or for the rest of the season, whichever comes first.

Cases that fall into the first category often fly under the radar unless the injury is serious or the player is a well-known veteran, since $15K isn’t enough to make a noticeable dent in a team’s overall salary. However, there were a couple notable instances this fall of players on Exhibit 9 contracts suffering injuries and counting against their respective teams’ caps for $15K.

One was Knicks guard Landry Shamet, who appeared on track to make New York’s opening night roster before he dislocated his shoulder in the preseason. The Knicks waived Shamet and took on a $15K cap hit in the process, which isn’t entirely insignificant for a team currently operating just $581K below its second-apron hard cap. That extra $15K cap charge won’t majorly alter the Knicks’ plans, but it’ll force the team to wait a couple extra days to fit a 15th man under its hard cap later in the season.

Lakers camp invitee Jordan Goodwin also sustained an injury during the preseason, resulting in a $15K cap hit. Los Angeles had been operating just $45K below the second apron, so accounting for Goodwin’s $15K cap charge moved the team to within $30K of the second apron. Again, that shouldn’t really affect the way the Lakers handle business on the trade market or in free agency during the season, but even that slight difference is notable for a team operating with such a razor-thin margin below the restrictive second apron.

Spurs camp invitee Nathan Mensah is the other player who was injured in camp and left his team with a $15K cap charge. But San Antonio is operating way below the luxury tax line and will barely notice that extra $15K.

Exhibit 9 contracts are only effect during the summer and preseason. Once the regular season begins, there are no players on contracts with Exhibit 9 language — a player like Shamet, if he had made the Knicks’ regular season roster, would have had his Exhibit 9 contract turned into a standard one-year non-guaranteed deal.

That means the second rule outlined above applies to any player on a non-guaranteed contract who suffers an injury between opening night and January 7. Pacers center James Wiseman is the most noteworthy example so far in 2024/25.

Wiseman remains on Indiana’s roster for now and his contract is still non-guaranteed, but even if the club waives him today, his full $2,237,691 cap figure will remain on the Pacers’ cap for the rest of ’24/25, since his torn Achilles tendon is expected to sideline him for the rest of the season. Indiana has to continue paying Wiseman until he recovers from his injury or until the end of the season, so waiving him will create no cap relief.

While the Pacers aren’t right up against a hard cap or an apron threshold like the Knicks and Lakers are, the $2.2MM+ cap charge for Wiseman is far more significant than a $15K hit for an Exhibit 9 player, and it could have a real impact on what Indiana can do on the trade market. Currently, the team is hovering just $500K below the luxury tax line.

The Pacers will want to avoid becoming a taxpayer this season, so their ability to take on an extra salary in a trade is now noticeably more limited than it would be if they could cut Wiseman and remove more than two-thirds of his cap hit from their books.

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NBA Waiver Order Now Based On 2024/25 Records

December 1st, 2024 at 8:22am CST by Luke Adams

As of December 1, the NBA’s waiver priority order is determined by teams’ current-year records, rather than the previous season’s results.

That means, starting today, the waiver order for this season is based on teams’ 2024/25 records, with the worst teams getting the highest priority. In other words, if two teams place a claim on the same player, the team lower in this season’s NBA standings will be awarded that player.

Up until today, the waiver claim order was based on which teams had the worst records in 2023/24.

Waiver claims are relatively rare in the NBA, but it’s still worth noting which teams will have the first crack at intriguing players who may be cut over the next few weeks or months.

[RELATED: 2024/25 NBA Waiver Claims]

Here’s what the teams at the top of the NBA’s waiver order look like as of today:

  1. Washington Wizards (2-16)
  2. New Orleans Pelicans (4-16)
  3. Utah Jazz (4-15)
  4. Philadelphia 76ers (4-14)
  5. Toronto Raptors (5-15)
  6. Charlotte Hornets (6-14)
  7. Chicago Bulls (8-13)
  8. Portland Trail Blazers (8-12)
  9. Detroit Pistons (9-13)
  10. Brooklyn Nets (9-11) (tie)
    Indiana Pacers (9-11) (tie)
    Sacramento Kings (9-11) (tie)

In instances where multiple teams have identical records, head-to-head record for the current season is used to break ties — the team with the worst winning percentage in head-to-head games gets the higher priority. If the tied teams have yet to face one another or if they’ve split their head-to-head matchups, a coin flip determines priority for those clubs.

If a waived player can’t be claimed using the minimum salary exception, a team must use a mid-level exception (non-taxpayer or room), bi-annual exception, trade exception, a disabled player exception, or cap room to absorb his salary.

Most teams, especially those operating below the tax aprons, have at least one of those exceptions available to place a waiver claim, but it’s worth noting that a club with a top priority won’t be in position to nab just anyone who reaches waivers.

The Hornets, for example, don’t have cap space available to place a waiver claim on any player earning more than the minimum, and the only cap exception they have on hand is a small ($1,157,297) portion of the room exception. So despite their spot near the top of the waiver order, their ability to claim players will be pretty limited.

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Hoops Rumors Glossary: Trade Rules For Non-Guaranteed Salaries

November 30th, 2024 at 1:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Under past NBA Collective Bargaining Agreements, up until the 2016/17 season, a player’s full cap hit was used for salary-matching purposes in trades, whether or not his salary was guaranteed. If a player had an $10MM salary with a partial guarantee of $1MM, his outgoing salary in a trade was the same as it would have been for a player who had a fully guaranteed $10MM contract.

That’s no longer the case, however. Now, only the guaranteed portion of a player’s contract counts for outgoing salary purposes in a trade, limiting the appeal of non-guaranteed salaries as trade chips.

This detail is crucial for determining how much salary a team can acquire in a trade — unless a team is under the cap, the amount of salary it sends out in a trade dictates how much salary it can take back. The amount of salary an over-the-cap team can acquire in a trade ranges from 100% to 200% of its outgoing salary, depending on exactly how much salary the team is sending out and the team’s proximity to a tax apron.

Under the old system, it might have made sense for a cap-strapped club to trade a player with a guaranteed salary for a player earning an equivalent non-guaranteed salary — the cap-strapped club could then waive that newly-acquired player to cut costs. That’s no longer a viable strategy.

Complicating matters further is the fact that a team can’t simply circumvent the new rules by trading a player before a league year ends on June 30, then having his new team waive him once his new non-guaranteed cap hit goes into effect on July 1. After the end of the regular season, a player’s outgoing salary for trade purposes is the lesser of his current-year salary and the guaranteed portion of his salary for the following season.

Here’s a practical example: During the 2024 offseason, the Warriors explored trade scenarios involving Chris Paul, who made $30.8MM in 2023/24 and had a non-guaranteed $30MM salary for ’24/25. Because the ’23/24 season was over, Paul’s outgoing salary for matching purposes would have been $0, his guarantee for ’24/25, which was (far) less than his total 2023/24 salary.

Sending out Paul without guaranteeing any portion of his salary would have been impractical for the Warriors if they hoped to take any salary back themselves, but they did have the ability to partially or fully guarantee his cap hit in order to make the trade math work. For instance, if Golden State had guaranteed $20MM of Paul’s $30MM salary, $20MM would have become his new outgoing amount for matching purposes.

Finding a sweet spot in that scenario was still a challenge. For instance, it would have worked from the Warriors’ perspective to increase Paul’s partial guarantee to $15MM and use his outgoing salary to acquire a player with a $15MM guaranteed salary. But Golden State’s trade partner would have been sending out a $15MM player and having to account for Paul’s full $30MM incoming salary (not just his partial guarantee), so the math likely wouldn’t have worked for that team. Paul was ultimately waived prior to his guarantee deadline when the Warriors couldn’t find a legal deal they liked.

During the first half of a season, the math on non-guaranteed contracts is a little trickier, since the guaranteed portion of a player’s salary increases for each day he’s on the roster.

For example, Pistons big man Paul Reed is making $7,723,000 this season and that amount is non-guaranteed. However, November 30 (the date this article is being published) is the 40th day of the regular season, meaning Reed has already earned 40/174ths of his salary. That works out to $1,775,402, which is what Reed’s outgoing amount for matching purposes would be if he were traded today.

Reed’s outgoing amount will continue to increase every day until January 10, which is the NBA’s league-wide salary guarantee date. At that point, Reed’s $7,723,000 salary would become fully guaranteed and would be his outgoing amount in any trade for the rest of the regular season.

To paint a complete picture of exactly how these new rules work, let’s assume a free agent signed a two-year, $24MM contract during the summer of 2024. His cap hit in each year is $12MM, but the first season of the contract is partially guaranteed for $3MM, while the second year is fully non-guaranteed. Here’s how it would count, for trade purposes, as outgoing salary:

  1. From the date of the signing until the one-quarter mark of the 2024/25 season:
    • $3MM
    • Note: Due to other CBA rules, the player wouldn’t become trade-eligible until at least December 15, 2024 anyway.
  2. From the one-quarter mark of the 2024/25 regular season until all salaries become guaranteed on January 10, 2025:
    • A prorated amount of the salary based on the player’s earnings to date.
    • Note: The player would earn 1/174th of his $12MM salary per day; so 60 days into the season, his outgoing salary in a trade would be $4,137,931 (60/174ths of $12MM).
  3. From January 10, 2025 until the 2025 trade deadline:
    • $12MM
  4. From the day after the team’s 2024/25 season ends until the start of the 2025/26 regular season:
    • $0
  5. From the start of the 2025/26 regular season until salaries become guaranteed on January 10, 2026:
    • A prorated amount of salary based on earnings to date.
    • Note: The player would once again earn 1/174th of his $12MM salary per day; so 10 days into the season, his outgoing salary in a trade would be $689,655 (10/174ths of $12MM).
  6. From January 10, 2026 until the 2026 trade deadline:
    • $12MM

This change to the NBA’s trade rules hasn’t stopped teams from tacking on non-guaranteed years to the end of certain players’ contracts, since those non-guaranteed salaries still provide flexibility. However, we’re not seeing teams construct contracts with non-guaranteed cap hits solely for trade purposes like we occasionally used to.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

A previous version of this article was published in 2023.

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2024/25 NBA Disabled Player Exceptions

November 29th, 2024 at 6:18pm CST by Luke Adams

A disabled player exception can be granted when an NBA team has a player go down with an injury deemed to be season-ending. The exception gives the club some additional spending flexibility to add a single-season replacement in the trade market or in free agency

We go into more detail on who qualifies for disabled player exceptions, what they’re worth, and how exactly they work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, a DPE allows a team to sign a player to a one-year contract, trade for a player in the final year of his contract, or place a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract. The exceptions are worth either half the injured player’s salary or the amount of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (whichever amount is less).

Because the rules related to disable player exceptions are somewhat restrictive and the exceptions themselves generally aren’t worth a lot, they often expire without being used. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on which disabled player exceptions have been granted, just in case.

We’ll use this space to break down the teams with disabled player exceptions available for the 2024/25 league year, updating it as the season progresses if more teams are granted DPEs and/or to indicate which ones have been used.

Teams have until January 15 to apply for a disabled player exception and until March 10 to actually use them.

Here’s the list so far:

Available disabled player exceptions:

Williams suffered a major right knee injury on November 23, tearing his ACL, meniscus, and other connected ligaments, bringing his season to an early end.

Charlotte still has plenty of room to operate below the luxury tax line and has already used up most of its room exception, so the disabled player exception actually could come in handy for the team.

A torn ACL abruptly ended Wagner’s season just a few days before Christmas in December. According to Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom, Orlando applied for a disabled player exception prior to the January 15 deadline and was granted one.

The Magic have the second-lowest team salary in the NBA, so they’d be in position to use this exception if an opportunity arises.

Hendricks sustained a non-contact fractured right fibula and dislocated ankle in just the third game of his second NBA season on October 28 and underwent season-ending surgery in early November. The Jazz applied for and were granted a disabled player exception worth half of his $5.8MM+ salary.

The Jazz are operating far below the luxury tax line, giving them plenty of flexibility to potentially use this exception.

Improbably, both Pacers backup centers sustained season-ending Achilles injuries within the first two weeks of the season, with Wiseman tearing his left Achilles tendon in Indiana’s October 23 season opener, while Jackson tore his right Achilles tendon nine days later.

Neither exception is substantial and the Pacers have other obstacles to consider as they weigh their roster options, including a relatively small gap between their team salary and the luxury tax line. That reduces the likelihood that even one of these DPEs will be used, let alone both.

One of the few bright spots of the Sixers’ season, McCain was the early frontrunner for Rookie of the Year before undergoing surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee. Philadelphia formally ruled McCain out for the season on January 9, allowing the team to apply for and receive a DPE, per Pincus.

Holmes’ rookie season came to an end before it began, as he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in his very first Summer League game in July. As a rookie selected relatively late in the first round (No. 22 overall), Holmes is earning a modest first-year salary of about $3.07MM, so Denver’s disabled player exception is even more modest.

While the Nuggets’ disabled player exception probably won’t do much for them on the trade market, it could have some value in the buyout market. By late February or early March, the prorated minimum salary for a veteran free agent will be well below $1,532,820, so Denver could use their DPE to offer a top target more than the vet’s minimum in an effort to beat out rival suitors.

For now though, the Nuggets have a full 15-man roster, so it remains to be seen whether they’ll be in position to be a player on the buyout market at all.

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