I am allowing re-voting and going to keep this up for a few days : )
TLDR (still long):
1. Expansion teams select between 14-29 players
2. Teams protect a maximum of 8 players under contract or who are RFAs, BUT if they have less players under contract must leave at least one unprotected
3. Unrestricted free agents can't be selected, players who have not exercised ETOs or player options by the end of the day of the expansion draft can be selected
4. Teams that lose a player in the expansion draft receive a TPE
5. Teams can offer incentives (picks, etc.) to teams for selecting or not selecting a player in the expansion draft
6. Expansion teams have a hard cap in their first year of 80% of the salary cap, and 90% in their second year
7. Expansion teams can only select one player from each NBA team, so once you select one player from a roster, you can't select another
8. NBA draft: one expansion team receives the 5th pick, the other the 6th (coin flip) and in the second the loser of the flip receives the 37th pick and the winner receives the 38th pick (draft position is negotiated, Charlotte received the 4th pick when they expanded. I assume that the top 4 would be off-limits this year, but we can discuss)
http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q114
4. How does it work when the league expands? Can the league also contract?
To supply an expansion team with its initial complement of players, the league holds an expansion draft1 prior to that year's NBA draft. Existing teams are allowed to protect up to eight players (including restricted free agents) from being selected in the expansion draft, but every team must expose at least one player who can't possibly become a free agent as the result of the exercise or non-exercise of an option or ETO. Unrestricted free agents can neither be protected from nor selected in the expansion draft, and are essentially ignored. Restricted free agents (see question number 42) may be selected, but become unrestricted free agents upon selection (with the caveat that they cannot then re-sign with the team from which they came). No team may lose more than one player in an expansion draft.
Some players may become unrestricted free agents due to the invocation or non-invocation of an option or ETO (see question number 57). The league uses their status on the day of the expansion draft -- i.e., if a player has invoked his option or ETO by the day of the expansion draft, then he is treated as a free agent. If a player has not invoked an option or ETO by the day of the expansion draft, then he is treated as being under contract (so it is possible for an expansion team to select a player in the expansion draft who then invokes his option, becomes an unrestricted free agent, and signs elsewhere).
If a team is over the cap and loses a contracted player (not a restricted free agent) to an expansion team, they receive a trade exception (see question number 87) equivalent to the selected player's salary.
Existing teams are allowed to compensate expansion teams (usually with draft picks), in exchange for selecting or not selecting particular players in the expansion draft. For example, in the 1995 expansion draft (when Vancouver & Toronto entered the league), Orlando left Darrell Armstrong, Anthony Avent, Rodney Dent and Geert Hammink unprotected, but did not want to lose either Armstrong or Hammink. They gave Vancouver their 1996 second round pick in exchange for Vancouver selecting Dent with the second pick in the expansion draft. With Dent selected by Vancouver, Armstrong and Hammink became ineligible.
It is also common to see teams leave a desirable player unprotected, hoping that the player's age and/or high salary will dissuade the expansion team from selecting him. This allows those teams to protect an additional player whom they might have been more likely to lose. Or in some cases, they might dangle a high-priced player hoping the expansion team takes him off their hands.
Expansion teams have a lower salary cap for the first two years of their existence. In their first year, their salary cap is 80% of the salary cap for the rest of the league. In their second year, it's 90% of the salary cap for the rest of the league. Beginning with their third season, they have the same salary cap as the other teams. Their minimum team salary (see question number 14) is also lower by a commensurate amount.
Expansion teams often have restrictions placed on their draft position in their first few seasons. For example, Charlotte was assigned the #4 pick in the 2004 NBA draft, and Vancouver & Toronto could not receive the #1 pick in the NBA draft for their first four seasons in the league.
If an expansion team drafts a player in the expansion draft and waives him prior to the first day of the season, then that player's salary does not count toward team salary (although they still have to pay him). This provides some protection against bad decisions made in the expansion draft -- an expansion team could select a player, later decide they don't really want him, and waive him without their team salary being negatively affected.
Most league calculations (average salary, total benefits, total salaries, BRI, salary cap) simply ignore expansion teams (and the players on those teams) for two years. For example, the league calculates the average salary by adding up the team salaries for every team, and dividing by an amount equal to the number of teams times 13.2 (see question number 31). For this calculation the total of the team salaries does not include team salaries from expansion teams in their first two seasons, nor does the number of teams.
Basketball Related Income (BRI) does not include the fee expansion teams pay to join the league.
The league also reserves the right to contract (reduce the number of teams in the league) if necessary. The league needs to provide the players association with written notice of any decision to contract, and the two sides will negotiate to agree on the effects of contraction on the players and the procedures to be followed.
and still be treated as if you were reasonable.
