The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors will have to make a standard contract signing this week to meet minimum roster requirements. Both the Cavaliers and Warriors are currently at 13 players on standard contracts and must add a 14th player by Thursday.
NBA teams are required to carry at least 14 players on standard contracts. Teams are granted a window of 14 consecutive days to meet this requirement, or up to 28 total days in a season. Cleveland and Golden State both dropped to under 14 players by virtue of their trade deadline moves, where both completed imbalanced trades.
Cleveland should have no issue filling their 14th spot. The Cavs have enough clearance under the luxury tax to fill both of their open roster spots. Expect one signing to come this week, with the other likely coming later in the season.
The Warriors are in a bit of a trickier situation. Golden State has just less than $1.4 million in room under their first-apron hard cap. That’s tight to fill out the roster while leaving flexibility in case another need arises later.
Golden State is reportedly signing Kevin Knox to a 10 Day contract, as they come out of the All-Star break. Cleveland could take a similar approach. That allows for flexibility of meeting the minimum roster requirement, without locking into a rest-of-season contract.