NBA teams have until Monday night (Oct. 19) to officially set their rosters for the 2025/26 regular season. However, a majority of NBA teams will likely have their rosters ready to go on Saturday, with far more roster cuts expected today and tomorrow than on Sunday or Monday.
Why is that? Well, releasing a player on Saturday will ensure he clears waivers on Monday, a day before the regular season gets underway.
Players who are cut during the season are also paid for each day they spend on waivers, so a player who hits waivers on Sunday and doesn’t clear until the first day of the season on Tuesday would technically earn one day’s worth of pay, even if his contract isn’t guaranteed. A player released on Monday would spend two regular season days on waivers.
For players with partial or full guarantees, spending the first day or two of the regular season on waivers doesn’t really matter, since they’re getting their full 2026/27 salary (or their partial guarantees) regardless of which day they’re 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’ worth of dead money for the player.
Two days’ worth of dead money won’t exactly break the bank — it would range from about $16K to $45K for a minimum-salary player. Still, most teams already know which players are in and which are out, so there’s no need to take the decision down to the wire on Monday. They’ll make those cuts sooner rather than later to avoid adding extra cap charges to their books for ’26/27. Even that small amount of savings could end up being important for teams who are right around the tax line or up against a hard cap.
While many teams will make their cuts on Saturday, a handful of clubs can afford to wait an extra day or two if they want to, since they’ll be waiving (or trading) players who have full or partial guarantees.
The Grizzliesfor instance, have 16 players on fully guaranteed contracts, plus Jaylen Wells on a non-guaranteed deal, so unless they make a trade or two to set their standard 15-man regular season roster, they’ll need to waive at least one of their players with guaranteed salaries (realistically, it’ll be two, since Wells isn’t a release candidate).
Waiting until Sunday or Monday to make that roster move won’t affect the Grizzlies’ cap outlook at all. Outside of Wells, the other 16 players on standard contracts are assured of receiving their full-season salaries regardless of whether they’re waived on Saturday or Monday — or whether they spend the entire season under contract.
Additionally, teams whose final roster moves won’t involve placing a player on waivers can afford to wait until Monday to complete those moves.
For example, the Celtics currently have 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 Exhibit 10 players on Saturday, then convert the other one to a two-way contract on Monday in order to set its roster for the regular season.
Keeping one of those camp invitees on the standard roster and converting his Exhibit 10 contract to a standard non-guaranteed deal would also be an option for the Celtics, though doing so would push their team salary above the luxury tax line, so that’s unlikely.