How is cap space calculated?

Cap space is the salary cap minus the sum of all committed salaries, cap holds, and dead money for the season. If committed payroll exceeds the cap, there is no cap space and the team can only add players using exceptions, not open cap room.

What is the luxury tax threshold?

The luxury tax line sits above the salary cap. Teams whose total payroll exceeds it pay a tax on the overage on a rising scale, with repeat offenders taxed more steeply. Crossing it does not stop a team spending, but it makes each added dollar far more expensive.

What are the first and second apron?

The aprons are hard limits above the tax line introduced to restrain the biggest spenders. Crossing the first or second apron progressively removes roster-building tools such as the full mid-level exception and the ability to aggregate salaries in trades, so teams plan carefully to stay below them.

Can a team go over the cap to re-sign its own players?

Yes. The NBA uses a soft cap with exceptions, the most important being Bird rights, which let a team exceed the cap to re-sign its own free agents. That is why most contending rosters carry payrolls well above the cap line.

Are the default thresholds exact for my season?

The defaults are representative recent figures. Cap, tax, and apron numbers are set each year by the league based on basketball-related income, so enter the exact published values for the season you are modelling for precise results.

Basketball Salary Cap Space Calculator

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Roster planning starts with one question: how much money is already committed, and how much room is left? This calculator sums your contracted salaries and compares the total to the salary cap, luxury tax line, and aprons so you can see your cap space and tax exposure at a glance.

How it works

The tool adds every salary you enter and compares the total to each threshold:

committed   = sum of all player salaries
cap space   = salaryCap − committed        (0 if negative)
over cap     = committed − salaryCap        (if positive)
over tax     = committed − luxuryTax        (if positive)

It then flags whether the payroll is under the cap, over the cap but under the tax, into the tax, or past the first or second apron.

Example and tips

A roster with $120M committed against a $141M cap has $21M of cap space and sits comfortably below the tax. Add a $30M star and the payroll jumps to $150M — now $9M over the cap with no cap space, and the team must use exceptions or Bird rights to add anyone else. Enter the exact published cap, tax, and apron numbers for your target season; they move every year with league revenue.