Teams limited to minimum wage contract offers

There won’t be many free agents signing for more than the veteran minimum between now and the end of the NBA regular season. Most of the players whose markets exceeded the minimum disappeared pretty quickly in July, and teams aren’t looking to spend big on players who are still available.

Still, that certainly doesn’t mean every transfer over the next seven months will be a minimum-salary signing. In some cases — especially in the February buyout market — being able to offer a few million dollars more than the minimum could be the difference between a team signing a free agent or losing him.

With that in mind, it’s worth looking at which teams currently have no way to offer more than the minimum. By our count, a third of the NBA is in the same situation, although some of those clubs could generate some spending flexibility by cutting costs.

Here is a list of teams that are currently only eligible for minimum-salary contract offers to free agents:

Teams above the second tax lane:

• Boston Celtics
• Milwaukee Bucks
• Minnesota Timberwolves
• Phoenix Suns

Teams operating above the second tax bracket, which is $188,931,000 for the 2024-25 season, face a number of restrictions on roster construction, including a ban on using any form of the mid-level exception, as well as the six-month exception.

The Celtics, Bucks, Timberwolves and Suns are among the teams above the second tier and therefore do not have any salary cap exceptions that can be used for free agents, other than the minimum salary exception.

Teams very close to the second lane of the road:

• Los Angeles Lakers
• Miami Hot

Because their team salaries are lower than those in the second division, the Lakers and Heat are technically eligible for a tax break of $5,168,000 this season.

However, both clubs operate so close to the second runway that using any portion of the taxpayer’s MLE would cause the team’s payroll to increase above that threshold, which is not allowed — a team that uses the taxpayer’s MLE cannot have a payroll exceeding the second runway after the signing is complete (or at any time thereafter).

Therefore, unless the Lakers and Heat take action to reduce salaries, they will now have to limit themselves to players earning minimum wage.

Over-the-limit teams that have used all of their cap exceptions:

• Denver Nuggets
• Philadelphia 76ers

The Nuggets currently operate between the first and second tax brackets and have already used the mid-level taxpayer exception to sign Dario SaricBecause the two-year exception is not available to teams above the first-round pick, Denver can no longer offer more than the veteran’s minimum salary.

Meanwhile, the Sixers used up their entire cap room exception to re-sign Kelly Oubre after spending all of their cap space. Now they are well over the cap and have only the bare minimum salary exception to sign a free agent.

It’s worth noting that signing a player via sign-and-trade is technically possible before Opening Night for teams that have exhausted all of their cap exceptions and are willing to add a free agent for more than the minimum, but that’s not a practical option for either Denver or Philadelphia, who are both above the top tax bracket.

Teams that have hard limits:

• Dallas Mavericks
• Golden State Warriors

The Mavericks have about $4.25 million left in their mid-level exception after using some of it to sign Naji Marshalland both Dallas and Golden State still have their full two-year exceptions.

But given the roster moves they made this summer, both the Mavs and Warriors have a hard cap hit of $178,132,000 at the top of their roster and are less than $1 million away from that hard cap hit. In other words, unless they shed salary by trading or releasing one or more of their current players, not only can these two teams not use the remaining exceptions — they also can’t add another minimum-salary player on a standard contract.

Dallas and Golden State both have at least one player with a non-guaranteed salary, so it would theoretically be possible to, for example, release the Mavs AJ Lawson and then use some of their mid-level exception to sign a free agent. But their breathing room below the hard cap is so limited that any signing above the minimum is unlikely unless cost-cutting creates more flexibility — the same goes for the Warriors.