NBA teams have until Monday night (Oct. 19) to officially make their rosters for the 2025/26 regular season. However, the rosters of most NBA teams will likely be ready to go on Saturday, with significantly more roster cuts expected today and tomorrow than Sunday or Monday.
why so? Well, clearing a player on Saturday ensures that he will be cleared from waivers on Monday, the day before the regular season begins.
Players who are cut during the season are also paid for each day they spend on waivers, so a player who is placed on waivers on Sunday and is not released by the first day of the season on Tuesday will technically be paid for one day, even if his contract is not guaranteed. A player released Monday would have spent two days of the regular season on waivers.
(RELATED: 2026/27 NBA roster)
(RELATED: 2026/27 Non-guaranteed team contracts)
For players with partial or full guarantees, spending the first two days of the regular season on waivers doesn’t really matter, as they receive their full 2026/27 salary (or partial guarantees) regardless of what day they are released. But if a team waits until Monday to cut a player with a non-guaranteed salary, that team will be on the hook for two days of dead money for the player.
A two-day amount of dead money definitely won’t break the bank – it will range from about $16,000 to $45,000 per minimum wage the player However, most teams already know which players are in and out, so there’s no need to make a decision on Monday. They will make these cuts sooner rather than later to avoid further restrictions on their books at 26/27. Even this small amount of savings can prove important for teams that are close to taxing or facing a tight cap.
While many teams will make the cut on Saturday, a few clubs can afford to wait an extra day or two if they want to, as they waive players (or trade them) for players who have full or partial guarantees.
The Grizzliesfor example, there are 16 players with fully guaranteed contracts, plus Jaylen Wells on a non-guaranteed deal, so unless they make a trade or two to establish their standard 15-man roster for the regular season, they’ll have to give up at least one of their guaranteed salary players (actually, it’ll be two since Wells isn’t a waiver candidate).
Waiting until Sunday or Monday to make that roster move won’t affect the Grizzlies’ cap prospects at all. Outside of Wales, the remaining 16 players on standard contracts are guaranteed a full season’s salary, regardless of whether they opted out of pay on Saturday or Monday — or whether they have spent the entire season under contract.
Also, teams whose final roster move won’t involve placing a player on waivers can afford to wait until Monday to complete those moves.
For example, Celtics there are currently 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts, two on two-way contracts and five on Exhibit 10 deals. While we don’t know exactly what the team’s plan is, Boston could cut four of those 10 players on Saturday and then transfer another to a two-way contract on Monday to build its regular-season roster.
Keeping one of those camp invitees on the standard roster and converting his Annex 10 contract to a standard non-guaranteed deal would also be an option for the Celtics, though that would put their team salary above the luxury tax line, so it’s unlikely.
