While the NBA has added 90 new roster spots by introducing three Two-Way contracts for every team, it has come at the expense of many team's 15th standard roster spot. As part of a lengthy piece on the subject, Spotrac's Keith Smith details how there are currently 19 open standard roster spots around the NBA. Sixteen different teams have those 19 open roster spots and nine are already into the luxury tax. Most of those teams will leave the 15th spot open going into the season.
“Two-way contracts have all but killed off the 15th spot for most of the year, true training camp invites and a lot of 10 Day contracts too,” a long-time agent told Spotrac. “A lot of teams don’t bother anymore, because they can just use their two-way guys. And don’t get me started on what it’s done to the draft.”
“Look, we’re all cognizant of the cap and the luxury tax, even more so with hard caps and the aprons,” an Eastern Conference GM said. “Two-way contracts can serve as roster fillers who don’t count against the cap or the tax. That’s a win for teams working around the margins.”
One West GM told Spotrac, “We save our last spot for flexibility. If we have a need and our two-way games are getting tight, we’ll bring in a guy on a 10 Day. But pre-trade deadline, we don’t want a guy taking up a roster spot we might need in an unbalanced trade. It’s easier to leave it open and to save some money, than it is to tell a guy you are cutting him.”