If a player signs a two-way contract before the start of the regular season, he is eligible to play in a maximum of 50 NBA games that season. In order to exceed 50 active games, that player must be transferred from his two-way contract to a regular roster spot.
While this 50 game limit applies to a player contracted to whole season, the cap looks a little different for a player who signs a two-way deal after the season starts. This player is eligible to be active for a proportionally part of a maximum of 50 games, depending on how many days remain in the regular season.
Consider the case of a Enrique FreemanWorld Health Organization signed two-way deal with the Timberwolves on Tuesday. Oct. 27 is the eighth day of the 174-day regular season, meaning the contract will span 167 days. To determine Freeman’s active game limit, we divide 167 by 174 and then multiply that result by 50. This comes out to approximately 47.99, which is rounded up to the nearest whole number. Therefore, Freeman could be active for up to 48 regular season games.
Instead of doing this math every time a player signs a two-way contract during the 2026/27 season, we present this reference table. It can be used until the end of the season to determine how many active games a two-way player will have available depending on when exactly he signs.
| Dates | Game limit |
|---|---|
| October 20-21 | 50 |
| October 22-25 | 49 |
| October 26-28 | 48 |
| October 29 – November 1 | 47 |
| November 2-4 | 46 |
| November 5-8 | 45 |
| November 9-11 | 44 |
| November 12-15 | 43 |
| November 16-18 | 42 |
| November 19-22 | 41 |
| November 23-25 | 40 |
| November 26-29 | 39 |
| November 30 – December 2 | 38 |
| December 3-5 | 37 |
| December 6-9 | 36 |
| December 10-12 | 35 |
| December 13-16 | 34 |
| December 17-19 | 33 |
| December 20-23 | 32 |
| December 24-26 | 31 |
| December 27-30 | 30 |
| December 31 – January 2 | 29 |
| January 3-6 | 28 |
| January 7-9 | 27 |
| January 10-13 | 26 |
| January 14-16 | 25 |
| January 17-20 | 24 |
| January 21-23 | 23 |
| January 24-27 | 22 |
| January 28-30 | 21 |
| January 31 – February 3 | 20 |
| February 4-6 | 19 |
| February 7-10 | 18 |
| February 11-13 | 17 |
| February 14-17 | 16 |
| February 18-20 | 15 |
| February 21-24 | 14 |
| February 25-27 | 13 |
| February 28 – March 2 | 12 |
| March 3-4 | 11 |
March 4 is the deadline for teams to sign a player to a two-way contract.
It should be noted that while each two-way player has their own individual in-game activity limit, a team with less than 15 players in their standard squad does not have the opportunity to use this full limit for each of the two-way players. A team in such a situation is limited to 90 active games for two-way players until it adds a 15th man.
You can learn more about active play limits and all other rules related to bilateral contracts in our glossary.
