The CBA Glossary

An explainer thing for the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement


Welcome to the CBA Glossary, an attempt at explaining the complex legal document that is the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement - the written legal contract between the NBA and the union representing the players, outlining the terms and conditions of employment.

In absolutely no way is this project connected with the legendary cbafaq.com, run by the industry pioneer, Larry Coon. Inspired by it, absolutely - it is in that respect all owed to him. But connected to it, no - the debt is indirect. Larry paved the way and elevated the conversation; those of us who dabble in this field, be it personally or professionally, will always owe it all to him. Happy retirement to him, thank you for everything you did for both the entire CBA ecosphere as a whole and for me personally, and I hope you enjoy making many beautiful flugelhorns or whatever it is you do now.

This content of this website is designed to cover the complicated rules of the CBA - how they impact NBA roster decisions, what can be done, when it should be done, and why things happen - from the basics to the arcane. It is designed to be accessible and palatable to all. The website it is on, by contrast, is designed to be extremely basic and simple. If nothing else, at least I achieved that bit.

No one, no person, no entity, no agency, no team, no anyone, has a financial interest in this website. And they never will. This is done for the love of the game, not the love of the money. There isn't any money being made in doing this. Which I guess is ironic, considering the subject matter.

Contact me at Twitter (never X), BlueSky or email for questions, corrections, suggestions, praise, the opposite of praise, or whatever you want. I hope the information is helpful, and, in its own way, entertaining - more importantly, I hope it is correct. Please email with any submissions. Thank you and enjoy!

- Mark Deeks (@MarkDeeksNBA, English, bad dress sense, unexplained limp)

CBA GLOSSARY:

  1. What the salary cap is From why we're even here, to the difference between a hard cap and soft cap.
  2. Fundamental salary basics Guarantees, proration, maximum raises/decreases, 10-day contracts, roster sizes, etc
  3. Maximum and minimum salaries There isn't just one maximum salary, nor one minimum salary. There are several.
  4. Exceptions The thing you most likely are here to find out about. The salary cap can be gotten around; here is how.
  5. Extensions Rookie extensions, veteran extensions, Designated Players, "Supermax", etc.
  6. Luxury tax Who pays, how much, how to calculate tax payments, the repeater tax, etc
  7. Aprons A relatively new provision in the NBA CBA, and, if we're honest, one of the more annoying ones. But they matter.
  8. Cap holds It is not only player salaries that count against a team's salary cap. And when trying to calculate a team's cap space, these become very important.
  9. Free agency rulesQualifying offers, eligibility, Arenas rule, starter criteria, etc.
  10. Renegotiations Very rare in practice, but potentially very useful when applicable.
  11. Trade rules TPEs, trade kickers, salary matching, and the like - including no-trade clauses, both actual and effective. What constitutes considering, acceptable amount of cash, etc. Biiiig page.
  12. NBA Draft rules NBA Draft Rules
  13. Rookie scale contracts The myriad rules surrounding the first contracts that almost all NBA first round picks sign.
  14. Draft rights If your team drafts a player, they have his draft rights. But for how long? What can they do with them? What if they are traded? Et cetera.
  15. Incentives and bonuses Incentives [not yet available]
  16. Waivers Waivers are somewhat like trades, but with their own set of rules. And if it wasn't for Steve Novak, the distinction would be even less clear.
  17. The moratorium Almost all transactions shut down for a week in July. Here is why.
  18. The Over-38 rule The NBA's very oldest players are subject to a specific salary cap rule, one that rarely applies, but which can complicate matters.
  19. Exhibit 10sYou will likely have heard the term "Exhibit 10 contract" quite often. Here is what they are.
  20. "Dead" capNot all of a team's salary cap outlay goes on its active roster, and sometimes, what is on there can be changed.
  21. Average salary Not just a number. It has a purpose.
  22. Two-way contracts and G League-related matters New inventions that makes rosters deeper with younger players.
  23. How much does my team have to spend? The most important question, the most common question, and an extremely freaking difficult one to answer a lot of the time.
  24. Trade math How do teams actually use all this information to construct a trade?
  25. Where the money actually goes Escrow, tax payments, player salary payments, what happens when a player is traded at midseason, etc
  26. Player conductAll matters pertaining to player conduct, including everything from suspensions and gambling infractions to what they are allowed to invest in.
  27. Suspensions Drug program, domestic violence policy, etc [not yet available]
  28. Awards The 2023 CBA introduced a ream of eligibility criteria for the NBA's annual awards, detailed here.[not yet available]
  29. The "Amnesty" provision It used to exist; it may do again one day.
  30. Tampering What it is, what happens if a team does it, and how not to do it.
  31. CircumventionIf it sounds like salary cap circumvention, it probably is. And the CBA does not take kindly to cap circumvention.
  32. CollusionNot to be confused with either tampering or circumvention.
  33. Extremely unlikely/rare situations Expansion drafts, deaths under contract, Poison Pill Provision, early CBA termination, force majeure, etc
  34. Dates to remember This is a list of important NBA dates, such as extension deadline days, more than it is about important annivarsaries in your life. [not yet available]
  35. OtherHuge portions of the CBA are dedicated to matters such as player pensions, which, while important to those involved, have no relevance to salary cap management, which is the aspect of the CBA most directly related to fans. Those matters are loosely covered in this section. Did you know that the CBA mandates that NBA players get a daily cash stipend for lunch? All those fascinating and important details and more.

RESOURCES:

  1. ShamSports.com NBA salary information Best on the web since 2005! Apart from the 13 years where it didn't have any! [not yet available]
  2. A Complete History of NBA Luxury Tax Payments ...or at least, it will soon be completed. Couple of years left to source. [not yet available]
  3. The Capulator Exactly what the portmanteau in the title suggests. Rather than writing out cap scenarios, users can essentially draw them, save them, and share them. The Capulator is a user-friendly click-friendly salary cap calculator that allows users to draw their plans for future salary cap strategy, see the live results of that, and share their projections with others. This allows for real-time strategisation and planning, and is created to incorporate all CBA rules [with the exception of the Over-38 rule] with 100% accuracy. We are very proud of this tool and encourage its usage.
  4. The actual CBA documentLiven up your family's Christmas with this compelling after-dinner read.
  5. The Uniform Player ContractThis is what NBA player contracts actually look like.
  6. Salary cap and extension history - RealGMRealGM provides archived numbers for every season's salary cap, luxury tax, mid-level extension numbers and more - as well as the official NBA projections for the future.
  7. Every NBA team's in-depth draft pick situation - RealGMThis is the only page for such data you will ever need.
  8. The Basketball Manifesto The Basketball Manifesto was a 3,775 page, 1.2 million word-ish basketball reference book. It contained reviews, strategy, assessments, ideas and plans for every NBA team and every NBA player. It sought to:

        1) Establish what assets a team has to work with, including its salary cap position.
        2) Establish the player talent it already has and how commensurate it is (or is not).
        3) Look at what it needs to address.
        4) Lay out conceptual strategy for it all.
        5) Discuss.

    Dated November 2020, it is out of date now. But man, was I proud.

    Previous to this, I had written the 2017 and 2018 NBA Manifestos; hugely in-depth forecasts of the offseason strategies of all NBA teams, albeit with smaller databases behind them. The Basketball Manifesto included the G League, NCAA, EuroLeague and myriad other high-tier competitions. It was, I hoped, a website you can download. And it definitely was not a colossal waste of my time or anything.
  9. A profile about me at Grantland.....which hopefully lends some credibility to the rest of this site.