Which NBA teams have the most cap space in the 2024 free agency?

NBA free agency will begin on Sunday evening and with that, we can expect to see a flurry of movement, but what’s the cap space that teams have?

EZRA SHAW | AFP

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A former soccer player who now lives and works in Barcelona, Paul has been living in Spain since 2011. Ten years later in 2021 is when he joined the Diario AS family and he's been churning out articles about sports ever since. When not working, Paul enjoys hanging with his friends or playing soccer with his team. Aside from those two, he's also a person who loves learning about history, culture, human behavior and the way in which it's affected by the other two. He continues to look for opportunities to grow both mentally and professionally.

Update: Jun 30th, 2024 14:15 EDT

It’s the time of year when contenders are constructed and dynasties are destroyed, but regardless of which side of the divide you stand on, it’s always interesting. With that, it’s got to be said that everything comes down to resources and how much of them franchises can afford to let go. So, let’s take a look at who is working with what.

Some context on free agency and the salary cap.

If you caught our previous report about the intricacies NBA’s salary cap, then you likely that In late January of this year, the league took the decision to lower its salary cap projection for the 2024-25 season from $142 million to $141 million. Although the projection has dipped, it still represents a 3.66% increase from the 2023-24 campaign which had a cap of $136 million.

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Now, with the 2024 NBA Draft now complete and free agency looming, we were always going to see movement, it was just a question of who and to where. That said, one can expect to see a little more of that this year due to the changes. If you didn’t know, this will be the first offseason to utilize the new second-apron restrictions for teams over the luxury-tax threshold.

NBA Cap space ranking by team

1. Philadelphia 76ers: $58.4 million

2. Detroit Pistons: $58.2 million

3. Orlando Magic: $52 million

4. Utah Jazz: $43.8 million

5. Oklahoma City Thunder: $37.5 million

6. San Antonio Spurs: $34.4 million

7. Charlotte Hornets: $11.4 million

8. Houston Rockets: -$20 million

9. Sacramento Kings: -$28.8 million

10. Brooklyn Nets: -$32.4 million

11. Atlanta Hawks: -$32.4 million

12. Portland Trail Blazers: -$34.9 million

13. Memphis Grizzlies: -$39.5 million

14. Dallas Mavericks: -$40.1 million

15. Denver Nuggets: -$44.1 million

16. Cleveland Cavaliers: -$44.9 million

17. Toronto Raptors: -$52.9 million

18. Washington Wizards: -$56.9 million

19. Boston Celtics: -$58.9 million

20. Milwaukee Bucks: -$60.5 million

21. Indiana Pacers: -$61.1 million

22. New Orleans Pelicans: -$61.3 million

23. Miami Heat: -$62.2 million

24. Chicago Bulls: -$70 million

25. New York Knicks: -$75.3 million

26. Los Angeles Lakers: -$79.1 million

27. Phoenix Suns: -$88.4 million

28. Los Angeles Clippers: -$102.8 million

29. Golden State Warriors: -$104 million

To be clear, any team that is over that second line won’t be able to aggregate contracts to trade for a single player, send out cash in trades, use trade exceptions from previous years, or reclaim more salary than they allocate in a trade. With that in mind, teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers who lead the league with $58.4 million in projected cap space, won’t have to worry about the second apron. That said, there are also a number of team who have the wiggle room to spend big in the next few days. In the table above you can take a look at what every team is working with i.e., who has the most and who has the least cap space. We hope this helped.