NBA Teams With Hard Caps For 2026/27

The NBA salary cap is somewhat malleable, with various exceptions allowing each team to surpass the $164,961,000 threshold once its cap room is used up. In some cases, teams blow past not only the cap limit, but the luxury tax line of $200,428,000 as well — the Thunder, Knicks, and Magic are among the clubs who project to have substantial tax bills in 2026/27 as a result of their spending.

The NBA doesn’t have a “hard cap” by default, which allows clubs like Oklahoma City, New York, and Orlando to build significant payrolls without violating NBA rules. However, there are certain scenarios in which teams can be hard-capped.

The league’s 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement carried over the hard cap rules from the 2017 CBA while also expanding them, adding new scenarios in which teams can face hard caps and creating a second salary level that certain teams can’t exceed.

We go into greater detail in a separate article on how teams become hard-capped, but here’s a brief rundown of the ways it can happen in 2026/27:

1. A team becomes hard-capped at the first tax apron ($209,015,000) if it makes any of the following moves:
   • Acquires a player via sign-and-trade.
   • Uses more than the taxpayer portion (up to two years, with a starting salary of $6,064,000) of the mid-level exception to sign a player.
   • Uses any portion of the mid-level exception to acquire a player via trade or waiver claim.
   • Uses any portion of the bi-annual exception to sign a player or to acquire a player via trade or waiver claim.
   • Uses the expanded traded player exception.
   • Uses a traded player exception generated during the previous offseason or regular season.
   • Signs a player who was waived during the regular season and whose pre-waiver salary was higher than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($15,044,000).
2. A team becomes hard-capped at the second tax apron ($221,686,000) if it makes any of the following moves:
   • Uses any portion of the mid-level exception to sign a player to a contract.
   • Aggregates two or more players in a trade for salary-matching purposes.
   • Sends out cash in a trade.
   • Sends out a player via sign-and-trade and uses that player’s outgoing salary to take back a contract.
     • Note: This applies in either the same (simultaneous) transaction or in a subsequent (non-simultaneous) transaction via the resulting trade exception.

Given how many ways there are to create a hard cap, most clubs who don’t intend to operate over one of the two aprons will likely end up hard-capping themselves at one or the other over the course of the year.

Some teams will have to be hyper-aware of that hard cap when they consider any roster move for the rest of the season, but for others it’s just a technicality that won’t affect their plans in any meaningful way.

Listed below are the hard-capped teams for the 2026/27 league year, along with how they created a hard cap.

In many instances, a team made multiple roster moves that would have imposed a hard cap (e.g. acquired a player via sign-and-trade and used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception). Only the first of those transactions is noted below, though in some cases a team made two moves within a single transaction to create a hard cap, in which case each relevant move is mentioned.

Hard-capped at first tax apron

These teams will be prohibited from exceeding $209,015,000 in team salary in 2026/27.

Atlanta Hawks

• Used a trade exception generated last offseason (for Clint Capela) to acquire Devin Carter.

Boston Celtics

• Used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Mitchell Robinson.

Charlotte Hornets

• Used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to acquire Dorian Finney-Smith.

Chicago Bulls

• Used a trade exception generated last season (for Coby White) to acquire Kam Jones.

Dallas Mavericks

• Used the expanded traded player exception to acquire Santi Aldama.
• Used the bi-annual exception to acquire Marcus Sasser.

Detroit Pistons

• Used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to acquire Isaiah Joe.

Indiana Pacers

• Used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Kelly Oubre Jr.

Los Angeles Clippers

• Used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Rui Hachimura.

Los Angeles Lakers

• Acquired Walker Kessler via sign-and-trade.

Memphis Grizzlies

• Used the expanded traded player exception to acquire Isaiah Stewart, D’Angelo Russell, and AJ Johnson.

Miami Heat

• Used the expanded traded player exception to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo.
• Used a trade exception generated last offseason (for Duncan Robinson) to acquire Bobby Portis.

Milwaukee Bucks

• Used the expanded traded player exception to acquire Caris LeVert.

Philadelphia 76ers

• Used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Dean Wade.

Portland Trail Blazers

• Used the expanded traded player exception to acquire Ja Morant.

Sacramento Kings

• Used the bi-annual exception to sign Precious Achiuwa.

San Antonio Spurs

• Used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Tobias Harris.

Utah Jazz

• Used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Jaxson Hayes.

Washington Wizards

• Used a trade exception generated last offseason (for Kelly Olynyk) to acquire Deandre Ayton.

Hard-capped at second tax apron

These teams will be prohibited from exceeding $221,686,000 in team salary.

Phoenix Suns

• Sent out cash in a trade.

No hard cap

• Brooklyn Nets
• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Denver Nuggets
• Golden State Warriors
  • Note: The Warriors are expected to become hard-capped at the second apron by using the taxpayer MLE to sign De’Anthony Melton.
• Houston Rockets
  • Note: The Rockets are expected to become hard-capped at the second apron by using the taxpayer MLE to sign Marcus Smart.
• Minnesota Timberwolves
• New Orleans Pelicans
• New York Knicks
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Orlando Magic
• Toronto Raptors
  • Note: The Raptors are expected to become hard-capped at the first apron by using the expanded trade exception to acquire Kawhi Leonard.

This list, which figures to continue evolving, will be updated throughout the 2025/26 league year as necessary. It can be found anytime in the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Features” menu on our mobile site.