The Maximum Available 2016 Cap Space for All 30 NBA Teams Version 2.0

Post #1 » by **RealGM Articles** » Fri Nov 4, 2016 9:01 pm

Even though the salary cap projected to go over the $100 million mark for the first time in history (latest estimate: $103 million), not as many teams will have cap space in 2017 as many might assume after this past summer’s spending spree. NBA teams spent over $3.5 billion in salaries since the start of the summer.

Because so much money was spent this summer and because the cap estimate came in about $4 million less than originally thought (original projections were a cap of $107 million for 17-18), many teams will be tighter against the cap than we thought a year or so ago. In addition, Russell Westbrook and James Harden renegotiated and extended their contracts. Also, eight players coming off their Rookie Scale contracts agreed to extensions: Steven Adams, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Gorgui Dieng, Rudy Gobert, C.J. McCollum, Victor Oladipo, Dennis Schroder and Cody Zeller. Putting it all together, not only does this change the projection for their teams, but it removes several potential impact free agents from the market this coming summer.

Once you add it all up, there are still likely to be 10-14 teams with cap space available. And several more could join them. The tables below represent a look at where things stand as of today. A few notes:

Current CBA rules are used. Please see below for further details.

Latest cap projection of $103 million is used.

2017 NBA Draft order, for draft pick cap holds, was determined using the Las Vegas Over/Under win totals.

Starting Cap Space = the amount of space each team will have without renouncing or waiving any players/picks.

Maximum Cap Space = the amount of space each team could have if they waived or renounced all players/picks who are not fully guaranteed.

Projected Cap Space = the amount of space each team is projected to have after roster decisions are made.

One final but important, note: the NBA and NBPA are very close to a new labor agreement. Several things are subject to change in the new agreement, including but not limited to: the way cap holds are calculated, the Rookie Scale salary amounts, the salary amount for Exception and several other factors. Once these items are better understood, we’ll have another round of updates. Most importantly, this agreement was reached with relative peace and speed, meaning we’ll have plenty of time to digest the changes and react to them before it takes effect for the 2017-18 season.

Team	Starting Cap Space	Maximum Cap Space	Projected Cap Space	Fully Guaranteed Contracts	Partial/Non- Guaranteed Contracts	Potential Free Agents
Atlanta	$ (38,942,692)	$ 37,225,169	$ (40,290,092)	6	1	8
Boston	$ (8,219,107)	$ 38,453,609	$ 23,607,646	7	3	5
Brooklyn	$ 11,402,048	$ 65,134,460	$ 25,157,139	7	3	5
Charlotte	$ (13,429,819)	$ 11,192,835	$ (10,712,055)	8	1	6
Chicago	$ (13,277,758)	$ 54,885,314	$ (11,237,258)	7	3	5
Cleveland	$ (36,421,504)	$ (26,583,676)	$ (37,512,303)	8	2	5
Dallas	$ (34,370,966)	$ 39,115,811	$ 34,378,153	7	5	3
Denver	$ 17,772,619	$ 44,898,864	$ 17,820,464	12	2	1
Detroit	$ (17,702,802)	$ 6,329,367	$ (18,944,602)	9	2	4
Golden State	$ (22,022,802)	$ 60,527,944	$ (22,022,802)	5	0	10
Houston	$ (4,813,689)	$ 14,415,971	$ 9,354,235	10	1	4
Indiana	$ (4,392,667)	$ 40,278,009	$ 24,252,288	5	5	5
LA Clippers	$ (45,487,428)	$ 40,283,991	$ (42,903,668)	6	1	8
LA Lakers	$ (5,829,073)	$ 32,707,850	$ 15,948,337	9	2	4
Memphis	$ (25,613,131)	$ 9,522,927	$ (25,613,131)	10	1	4
Miami	$ (14,252,988)	$ 24,410,903	$ 16,387,605	5	3	7
Milwaukee	$ (23,032,979)	$ 7,096,679	$ (19,828,220)	10	0	5
Minnesota	$ 5,849,717	$ 26,864,810	$ 18,745,449	10	1	4
New Orleans	$ (13,123,142)	$ 31,352,955	$ 21,730,634	9	0	6
New York	$ (15,393,977)	$ 25,286,168	$ 23,743,961	8	2	5
Oklahoma City	$ (30,331,758)	$ (7,404,397)	$ (31,425,258)	9	1	5
Orlando	$ (22,383,348)	$ 32,772,455	$ 11,012,977	7	2	6
Philadelphia	$ 19,307,467	$ 65,807,003	$ 15,546,068	7	3	5
Phoenix	$ 8,533,141	$ 35,773,632	$ 17,811,158	9	3	3
Portland	$ (40,215,927)	$ (26,304,100)	$ (41,408,127)	11	3	1
Sacramento	$ (17,226,897)	$ 52,961,145	$ (6,668,776)	7	2	6
San Antonio	$ (24,548,173)	$ 28,381,744	$ (23,170,973)	7	1	7
Toronto	$ (22,915,179)	$ 14,625,076	$ (25,045,479)	10	2	3
Utah	$ (16,648,661)	$ 35,339,035	$ (18,803,661)	7	3	5
Washington	$ (20,729,918)	$ 4,514,544	$ (13,810,523)	9	3	3

Sorted by Starting Cap Space

Team	Starting Cap Space
Philadelphia	$ 19,307,467
Denver	$ 17,772,619
Brooklyn	$ 11,402,048
Phoenix	$ 8,533,141
Minnesota	$ 5,849,717
Indiana	$ (4,392,667)
Houston	$ (4,813,689)
LA Lakers	$ (5,829,073)
Boston	$ (8,219,107)
New Orleans	$ (13,123,142)
Chicago	$ (13,277,758)
Charlotte	$ (13,429,819)
Miami	$ (14,252,988)
New York	$ (15,393,977)
Utah	$ (16,648,661)
Sacramento	$ (17,226,897)
Detroit	$ (17,702,802)
Washington	$ (20,729,918)
Golden State	$ (22,022,802)
Orlando	$ (22,383,348)
Toronto	$ (22,915,179)
Milwaukee	$ (23,032,979)
San Antonio	$ (24,548,173)
Memphis	$ (25,613,131)
Oklahoma City	$ (30,331,758)
Dallas	$ (34,370,966)
Cleveland	$ (36,421,504)
Atlanta	$ (38,942,692)
Portland	$ (40,215,927)
LA Clippers	$ (45,487,428)

Sorted by Maximum Cap Space

Team	Maximum Cap Space
Philadelphia	$ 65,807,003
Brooklyn	$ 65,134,460
Golden State	$ 60,527,944
Chicago	$ 54,885,314
Sacramento	$ 52,961,145
Denver	$ 44,898,864
LA Clippers	$ 40,283,991
Indiana	$ 40,278,009
Dallas	$ 39,115,811
Boston	$ 38,453,609
Atlanta	$ 37,225,169
Phoenix	$ 35,773,632
Utah	$ 35,339,035
Orlando	$ 32,772,455
LA Lakers	$ 32,707,850
New Orleans	$ 31,352,955
San Antonio	$ 28,381,744
Minnesota	$ 26,864,810
New York	$ 25,286,168
Miami	$ 24,410,903
Toronto	$ 14,625,076
Houston	$ 14,415,971
Charlotte	$ 11,192,835
Memphis	$ 9,522,927
Milwaukee	$ 7,096,679
Detroit	$ 6,329,367
Washington	$ 4,514,544
Oklahoma City	$ (7,404,397)
Portland	$ (26,304,100)
Cleveland	$ (26,583,676)

Sorted by Projected Cap Space

Team	Projected Cap Space
Dallas	$ 34,378,153
Brooklyn	$ 25,157,139
Indiana	$ 24,252,288
New York	$ 23,743,961
Boston	$ 23,607,646
New Orleans	$ 21,730,634
Minnesota	$ 18,745,449
Denver	$ 17,820,464
Phoenix	$ 17,811,158
Miami	$ 16,387,605
LA Lakers	$ 15,948,337
Philadelphia	$ 15,546,068
Orlando	$ 11,012,977
Houston	$ 9,354,235
Sacramento	$ (6,668,776)
Charlotte	$ (10,712,055)
Chicago	$ (11,237,258)
Washington	$ (13,810,523)
Utah	$ (18,803,661)
Detroit	$ (18,944,602)
Milwaukee	$ (19,828,220)
Golden State	$ (22,022,802)
San Antonio	$ (23,170,973)
Toronto	$ (25,045,479)
Memphis	$ (25,613,131)
Oklahoma City	$ (31,425,258)
Cleveland	$ (37,512,303)
Atlanta	$ (40,290,092)
Portland	$ (41,408,127)
LA Clippers	$ (42,903,668)

3baller9 · Post #2 » by **3baller9** » Sun Nov 6, 2016 7:50 am

Miami's projected cap space is more like 40M. There is no way they don't get Bosh's money back.

Post #3 » by **Luv those Knicks** » Sun Nov 6, 2016 11:13 am

3baller9 wrote:Miami's projected cap space is more like 40M. There is no way they don't get Bosh's money back.

If he wants to keep playing, why do they get that money back?

3baller9 · Post #4 » by **3baller9** » Sun Nov 6, 2016 12:54 pm

Luv those Knicks wrote:
3baller9 wrote:Miami's projected cap space is more like 40M. There is no way they don't get Bosh's money back.

If he wants to keep playing, why do they get that money back?

Starting on February 9th, the one year anniversary of the Bosh’s last game played, the Heat can apply to have his salary removed from its cap. For it to be granted, the Heat would need to waive Bosh and an independent physician jointly selected by the NBA and players association would need to determine that his situation is indeed career-ending, or severe enough that playing would subject him to medically unacceptable risk of suffering a life-threatening or permanently disabling injury or illness.
With the latest clotting issue, it seems likely that the Heat would receive such a ruling.

If the Heat were to be granted cap relief from his contract, Bosh would not be permitted to play for the Heat ever again. But nothing prevents him from attempting to return elsewhere (even immediately thereafter), if a team is willing to sign him.
If he were to go on to play 25 regular season games in any one season, the Heat’s cap relief would be reversed and Bosh’s cap hits would be restored for the then-current and future seasons.

That is why Miami will delay waiving him until after March 1, delaying would ensure that Bosh would be ineligible for post-season play. By that time, no team will have 25 games remaining on its regular season schedule either. The Heat would therefore ensure that Bosh cannot “prove the doctor wrong” and return his salary to the Heat’s cap until, at the very earliest, the start of the 2017-18 season. By that time, the Heat will have potentially already have capitalized on the $25.3 million in freed-up summer of 2017 cap space. The most it could do at that point is create a massive luxury tax bill.

Post #5 » by **Luv those Knicks** » Sun Nov 6, 2016 1:41 pm

But if he does prove the doctors wrong, there's a fly in the ointment. I don't know much about his medical condition, but he does seem to want to play. He's said as much.

puja21 · Post #6 » by **puja21** » Mon Nov 7, 2016 4:36 pm

3baller9 wrote:
Luv those Knicks wrote:
3baller9 wrote:Miami's projected cap space is more like 40M. There is no way they don't get Bosh's money back.

If he wants to keep playing, why do they get that money back?

Starting on February 9th, the one year anniversary of the Bosh’s last game played, the Heat can apply to have his salary removed from its cap. For it to be granted, the Heat would need to waive Bosh and an independent physician jointly selected by the NBA and players association would need to determine that his situation is indeed career-ending, or severe enough that playing would subject him to medically unacceptable risk of suffering a life-threatening or permanently disabling injury or illness.
With the latest clotting issue, it seems likely that the Heat would receive such a ruling.

If the Heat were to be granted cap relief from his contract, Bosh would not be permitted to play for the Heat ever again. But nothing prevents him from attempting to return elsewhere (even immediately thereafter), if a team is willing to sign him.
If he were to go on to play 25 regular season games in any one season, the Heat’s cap relief would be reversed and Bosh’s cap hits would be restored for the then-current and future seasons.

That is why Miami will delay waiving him until after March 1, delaying would ensure that Bosh would be ineligible for post-season play. By that time, no team will have 25 games remaining on its regular season schedule either. The Heat would therefore ensure that Bosh cannot “prove the doctor wrong” and return his salary to the Heat’s cap until, at the very earliest, the start of the 2017-18 season. By that time, the Heat will have potentially already have capitalized on the $25.3 million in freed-up summer of 2017 cap space. The most it could do at that point is create a massive luxury tax bill.

Incorrect -- even after March 1, Bosh could hit 25 games in the playoffs and they would lose the cap space effective for that summer and beyond, effectively neutering them until his contract expires after 2018/2019. Also there are typically >20 games left as of March 1st... I believe some teams may have 25 reg season games left depending on the scheduling.
e.g.
Last year March 1st was game #60 for Miami, meaning they had 22 remaining

Source:
http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q63

"If the 25th game was a playoff game, then the player's salary is returned to the cap effective on the date of the team's last regular season game (i.e., the returned salary counts toward the luxury tax)."

3baller9 · Post #7 » by **3baller9** » Mon Nov 7, 2016 11:03 pm

Players waived after March 1 are not eligible for playoff rosters.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/243584/Heat-Expected-To-Delay-Waiving-Chris-Bosh-Until-After-Playoff-Deadline