After a 128-day offseason, NBA Opening Day is here! The 2026/27 regular season kicks off on Tuesday and instead of waiting until the evening for the action to kick off, we have a contest in the afternoon. In the first game of a tripleheader on opening day, the Pistons and Celtics will begin at 2:00 PM Detroit Central Time.
After this high-level appetizer, there will be matchups between the two presumptive favorites from each conference, as Sixers to visit the reigning champion Nix at 6:00 pm CT, while Spurs the owner Thunder at 8:30 p.m. CT.
All 30 NBA teams released their regular season rosters on Monday our tracker shows there are currently 519 players under contract for 540 places. Of those players, 433 are on standard contracts, leaving a total of 17 vacancies on 15-man rosters league-wide, while 86 are on two-way deals. Four teams – Art Mavericks, Timberwolves, The necklacesand Predators – there is still a two-way slot available.
Of the 433 players on standard contracts, 25 have unguaranteed or partially guaranteed wages for the 2026/27 season. This group would have a 26th member, but Ben SimmonsThe Achilles tear ensures that the Kings’ defenseman/forward will be paid the full minimum salary, as Sacramento is responsible for paying him until he’s on the mend.
How our list of early guaranteed salary dates indicates several players without guaranteed salaries will receive partial or full guarantees if they are not waived this week. Heat center Nick Richards, Grizzlies the wing Jaylen Wellsand Trail Blazers security guard Vit Krejci their salaries will become fully guaranteed within the next few days, provided they remain in their roster spots and don’t agree to push back their guarantee dates.
Most other players on non-guaranteed deals won’t receive their full salaries until the league-wide guarantee date in January. This group includes three veterans Exhibition 9 contracts that earned spots on regular season rosters – Jazz center Tony Bradley, Nix center James Wisemanand Wizards forward Anthony Gill all will have their Annex 9 deals converted to standard contracts with non-guaranteed minimum salaries, so their teams will no longer be protected in the event of an in-season injury as they would have been during the preseason.
How Keith Smith of Spotrac details, only one command – the Nuggets – will start the season on the second taxiway, although six more are working on the first. Another six are currently in the luxury tax area, while the remaining 17 are below the tax threshold. Of those 17 tax-free teams, 16 are over the limit, while Networks are the only team with cap space left — they have about $4.9 million in cap space below the cap.
Finally, it’s worth noting that while a player who signs for the minimum salary on Tuesday will be paid for the entire season, someone who signs for the minimum salary on Wednesday or later will be on proportionally right. Since the NBA regular season is 174 days long, a player signed to a minimum salary contract, such as Friday, will earn 171/174 of his regular minimum salary, and that will reflect his cap.
Happy opening day!