Cut or trade: what the last roster spots will cost the Bucks, Lakers, Grizzlies and Hornets

Oct. 15, 2026 — Four NBA teams still have more players than roster spots with four days left before Monday’s deadline, and for each of them the choice between a trade and a waiver comes with a price tag. Jake Fischer reported Wednesday that Milwaukee, Memphis and the Lakers are all exploring trades to sort out the bottom of their rosters, and that Charlotte has to weigh the locker-room value of keeping Pat Connaughton.

Every club has to be down to 15 players on standard contracts, plus up to three two-way players, by 5 p.m. ET on Monday, Oct. 19. A player waived with a guaranteed salary still gets paid in full, and that money stays on the team’s books as dead money. A consolidation trade, sending out two players and taking back one, avoids the dead money, but it needs a partner with an open roster spot and usually some kind of sweetener.

Bucks: one free cut, one expensive one

Milwaukee is carrying 17 standard contracts and has to lose two. The first is easy on the budget. Pete Nance’s $2,537,526 salary is fully non-guaranteed, so the Bucks can waive him without owing anything as long as they do it by Saturday, Oct. 17. A player waived on Monday wouldn’t clear waivers until Wednesday, the second day of the regular season, and would be owed two days of pay. For Nance that comes to $29,167, or 2/174ths of his salary. Milwaukee has already waived him once this year and re-signed him to a new non-guaranteed deal, so a two-way return is possible.

The second cut is where the money is. Caris LeVert, who arrived from Detroit in a six-team trade this offseason, is owed $14,809,200, all of it guaranteed. Kyle Kuzma’s expiring deal is worth about $20 million. If the Bucks waive either one, they pay him the full amount and lose an expiring contract they could have used to match salary at the trade deadline. That’s why they’re looking for a trade first. Eric Nehm calculated that waiving Nance alone would leave Milwaukee about $13 million under the luxury-tax line. Public trackers also show more than $21 million in dead money already on the Bucks’ 2026-27 books, nearly all of it from Damian Lillard’s waived contract.

Lakers: 16 guaranteed deals, one too many

The Lakers came to camp with 16 guaranteed contracts, so at least one player has to go even though none of them is cheap to cut. Dalton Knecht, the name that has come up most often, is owed $4,201,080 this season, and the team also has to decide on his 2027-28 option by Oct. 31. Jaden Hardy ($6 million), Jarred Vanderbilt (about $12.4 million, with a player option for next season) and Bronny James ($2,296,271) have also been mentioned as possible outgoing pieces.

Rob Pelinka has left room for a bigger move. “There’s also consolidation trades that can still be looked at, trading two guys out, bringing one in,” he said in September. The roster gives him a reason to try. Behind Walker Kessler and Kevon Looney, the Lakers are thin at center, so a two-for-one deal could clear the extra contract and add a big at the same time. Public trackers put the Lakers’ payroll at about $200.9 million, roughly $8.1 million under the first apron. That matters because a team that ends up over the first apron after a trade can’t take back more salary than it sends out.

Grizzlies: a dead-money bill that keeps growing

Memphis has 16 guaranteed contracts plus Jaylen Wells, whose $2,296,271 salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the opening-night roster. Wells is a rotation player, so keeping him is the expected outcome. That leaves two guaranteed contracts to move or eat. Micah Peavy ($2.15 million), who missed camp with an ankle injury, and Kris Murray (about $5.3 million) have been seen as the most likely to go.

Memphis has already spent a lot on players who aren’t on the roster. The Grizzlies released D’Angelo Russell, waived Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and agreed to part ways with Jordan Hawkins weeks after acquiring him. Public trackers list more than $34 million in 2026-27 dead money for Memphis, the most in the league. Waiving both Peavy and Murray would push that past $41 million. The Grizzlies can afford it. Yossi Gozlan calculated that they were still $38.64 million under the luxury tax after the Hawkins move. Still, every dollar of dead money is a dollar the team can’t spend on players who are actually suiting up.

Hornets: the cheapest cut is the one they don’t want

Charlotte is at 16 standard contracts after waiving Rob Dillingham the day after trading for him in late September. The cheapest way down to 15 is Connaughton. Trackers show his $3,815,861 salary as non-guaranteed, so cutting him before the season would cost the Hornets nothing. The problem is that Charlotte likes having him around. Marc Stein reported in September that the team wanted to keep the veteran guard for his leadership and his relationship with Kon Knueppel. Keeping him means the 16th spot has to come from a player whose money is already guaranteed.

What to watch before Monday

Saturday is the practical deadline for cutting non-guaranteed players for free, so Nance and Connaughton are the first decisions to watch. After that, the guaranteed cuts and any consolidation trades can wait until Monday afternoon without changing the cost. If none of these four teams finds a trade, the leftover players will be waived and their salaries will count as dead money all season.