NBA Opening Night is here! It doesn’t come with quite the fanfare of Major League Baseball’s Opening Day or NFL Kickoff Weekend, but the NBA is back. The Oklahoma City Thunder will get their rings and raise their first banner to the rafters. Then, the chase for the 2026 title is on.
With the regular season upon us, NBA teams have finalized their opening night rosters. The league’s financial landscape has never been more complex. The days of being under the cap, over the cap or over the tax are long gone. Now, we have first and second aprons, and 10 different ways to become hard-capped at those aprons.
But don’t fret! We’ve got you covered with where each team stands with the 2025-26 NBA season tipping off.
Team Salary Landscape
There are now five buckets that teams fall in, depending on how much team salary they are carrying. We’ll run through them in order of most to least expensive.
Second Apron Team
Cleveland Cavaliers: $21.9 million over the second apron
A year ago, four teams started the season over the second apron. The Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns all started the year over the second apron. The Bucks eventually got under, but as repeated second-apron teams, the Celtics, Wolves and Suns all became the first teams to trigger frozen draft picks. Those teams are now prohibited from trading their 2032 first-round picks, unless they thaw them out by avoiding second-apron status for three of the next four seasons.
The good news for the Cavs? They’re a surefire contender to win the Eastern Conference this season. But they better make a real run at the Finals, or changes will be coming next offseason. Teams aren’t going to hang out over the second apron if they aren’t title contenders.
Related: 2025 NBA Apron Tracker
First Apron Teams
Boston Celtics: $4.0 million over the first apron
Dallas Mavericks: $10.6 million over the first apron
Golden State Warriors: $9.8 million over the first apron
Minnesota Timberwolves: $8.3 million over the first apron
New York Knicks: $11.7 million over the first apron
The first apron is only slightly less restrictive than the second apron. It’s a little easier for these teams to make trades and the like, but only a little easier.
This group is a bit of a mixed bag. The Celtics are resetting their roster and maybe continue to push to get under the first apron, and possibly out the luxury tax entirely. The Mavericks are building things back up, but will be without Kyrie Irving until at least some point in 2026.
The Warriors, Wolves and Knicks are all title contenders. Golden State and Minnesota are a tier behind the top teams in the Western Conference, but plenty dangerous. The Knicks are on par with the Cavs at the top of the Eastern Conference.
One more note: The Mavs, Warriors and Knicks are all hard-capped at the second-apron. Dallas dealt with those challenges last season. Golden State and New York are both carrying open roster spots into the regular season because they don’t have room under their hard caps to fill them.
Related: 2025 NBA Apron Tracker
Luxury Tax Teams
Denver Nuggets: $402 thousand over the luxury tax
Houston Rockets: $6.8 million over the luxury tax
LA Clippers: $6.8 million over the luxury tax
Los Angeles Lakers: $6.9 million over the luxury tax
Orlando Magic: $5.6 million over the luxury tax
Philadelphia 76ers: $6.9 million over the luxury tax
Phoenix Suns: $274 thousand over the luxury tax
Toronto Raptors: $772 thousand over the luxury tax
This group is mostly playoff contenders, with a few potential Finals contenders in the mix.
Denver, Orlando, Phoenix and Toronto are good bets to shed money throughout the season to finish under the tax. They are all one move away from dodging the tax. For the Nuggets and Suns, this is important, as it can help them towards resetting the tax repeater clock. For the Magic and Raptors, it delays starting the tax repeater clock, and those teams could be fairly expensive moving forward.
One more note: The Rockets, Clippers, Lakers and Magic are all hard-capped at the first apron. All three teams are currently carrying open roster spots into the regular season because they don’t have enough room under their hard cap to fill them.
Related: 2025 NBA Tax Tracker
Over The Cap Teams
Atlanta Hawks: $5.4 million under the luxury tax
Charlotte Hornets: $14.4 million under the luxury tax
Chicago Bulls: $13.6 million under the luxury tax
Detroit Pistons: $21.1 million under the luxury tax
Indiana Pacers: $6.1 million under the luxury tax
Memphis Grizzlies: $16.0 million under the luxury tax
Miami Heat: $1.6 million under the luxury tax
Milwaukee Bucks: $11.5 million under the luxury tax
New Orleans Pelicans: $1.9 million under the luxury tax
Oklahoma City Thunder: $1.0 million under the luxury tax
Portland Trail Blazers: $1.5 million under the luxury tax
Sacramento Kings: $3.2 million under the luxury tax
San Antonio Spurs: $5.6 million under the luxury tax
Utah Jazz: $43.8 million under the luxury tax
Washington Wizards: $31.8 million under the luxury tax
As per usual, the NBA’s largest group of teams is living over the cap, but under the tax. This group is a mix of playoff contenders and rebuilding squads, outside of the Thunder, who are absolutely a title contender.
This is where the moves will happen. When there are trades in-season, expect these teams to be involved, either as direct parties or as helpful facilitators. Keep an eye on the Jazz and Wizards, as they’ve got the room under the tax to take on contracts for future draft assets to help push trades over the line, or to help teams duck the luxury tax.
Related: 2025 NBA Cap Tracker
Under The Cap Team
Brooklyn Nets: $15.3 million under cap
The days of multiple teams hitting the season with oodles of cap space available are over. Teams have to hit the salary floor now, or they miss out on the end-of-year luxury tax disbursement. The Nets have barely hit the floor, and now enter the season as the league’s lone cap space team.
Brooklyn will be everyone’s favorite “third team in” to help complete trades. The Nets have made it clear they are rebuilding and in asset-collection mode. They’ll be open for business all season long.
Hard Caps
More than two-thirds of the NBA is facing a hard cap at either the first or second apron. With 10 ways to become hard-capped now, teams are facing more roadblocks than ever to navigate around as they build their rosters. For each hard-capped team, we’ll break down which apron they are hard-capped at, and how much wiggle room they have.
First Apron Hard-Capped Teams
Atlanta Hawks: $13.5 million under the first apron
Charlotte Hornets: $21.9 million under the first apron
Chicago Bulls: $18.7 million under the first apron
Detroit Pistons: $28.1 under the first apron
Houston Rockets: $1.3 million under the first apron
Indiana Pacers: $13.6 million under the first apron
LA Clippers: $1.3 million under the first apron
Los Angeles Lakers: $1.1 million under the first apron
Memphis Grizzlies: $23.6 million under the first apron
Miami Heat: $7.2 million under the first apron
New Orleans Pelicans: $3.1 million under the first apron
Orlando Magic: $1.2 million under the first apron
Portland Trail Blazers: $7.9 million under the first apron
Sacramento Kings: $7.6 million under the first apron
San Antonio Spurs: $10.0 million under the first apron
Utah Jazz: $51.8 million under the first apron
Washington Wizards: $36.6 million under the first apron
For some of these teams, the hard cap doesn’t really matter. The rebuilding teams aren’t going to end up in range for it to really matter.
For others, like the Rockets, Clippers, Lakers and Magic they are working up against some extremely tight margins. They’ll have to wait until we get quite a way into the season before they can fill their open roster spots.
On the flipside, playoff contenders like the Hawks, Pistons, Pacers and Grizzlies all have enough wiggle room to take on some salary in trades as in-season needs arise.
Second Apron Hard-Capped Teams
Brooklyn Nets: $67.6 million under the second apron
Dallas Mavericks: $1.3 million under the second apron
Golden State Warriors: $2.0 million under the second apron
New York Knicks: $148 thousand under the second apron
The Nets being hard-capped at the second apron is kind of laughable, because it would be impossible for them to get anywhere close to the second apron this season.
It’s far less funny for the Mavericks, Warriors and Knicks. Dallas dealt with first-apron hard-cap issues last season and had to manipulate games for two-way players because of injuries and the inability to fill out the roster under the hard cap. Fortunately, they have a full roster to open this season.
The Warriors are waiting until November or December to re-sign Seth Curry to fill their open roster spot, so they’re ok…unless a rash of injuries causes issues.
The Knicks got used to dealing with tight margins under a hard cap last season. This year, things are even tighter. Unless they shed salary some way (ideally without also opening up another roster spot), New York will have to wait until April to fill their open roster spot.
Open Roster Spots
A year ago, we wrote about The NBA’s Vanishing 15th Roster Spot. To start the season, there are 16 teams with a standard roster spot open around the NBA. There are also two open two-way roster spots.
Open Standard Roster Spots
Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics
Cleveland Cavaliers
Denver Nuggets
Detroit Pistons
Golden State Warriors*
Houston Rockets*
LA Clippers*
Los Angeles Lakers*
Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves
New York Knicks*
Orlando Magic*
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Toronto Raptors
*Do not currently have room under hard cap to fill open roster spot
Open Two-Way Roster Spots
Brooklyn Nets
Cleveland Cavaliers
Offseason Spending
For all of the consternation that the “New CBA is ruining the league and no one wants to spend money” teams doled out considerable sums again this NBA offseason.
Between free agent contracts, rookie signings and extensions, team committed to over $5.7 billion (yes, billion with a “B”) in new money. Of that amount, roughly $5 billion is fully guaranteed.
Last season, teams committed to almost $7.4 billion in new money, with $6.6 billion being guaranteed. The main reasons spending was down a bit this offseason was that we saw fewer rookie scale extensions than a year ago. Veteran extensions were also somewhat down, as fewer players were eligible to extend this offseason. In addition, teams seem to exercising some increased caution with the tax aprons, as we’re now fully living in the NBA’s “Apron Era”.
The NBA remains as healthy as it has ever been. The league is fairly wide open, with multiple teams fancying themselves as title contenders. Billions of dollars in new salaries continues to be spent. New arenas in a few cities are on the way. New (and returning) media rights partners start their new broadcasts, with NBC and Amazon Prime joining the mix. And expansion, both domestic and global, remains likely in the relatively near future. Life is good for all parties involved in the NBA.
Enjoy the season everyone!
Related: 2025 NBA Offseason Spending Tracker
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© USA Today Sports
© USA Today Sports
© USA Today Sports