Detroit has roughly $110 million in guaranteed salaries on the books for the 2026-27 season, yet the club is not expected to start the summer with any practical cap room. Under NBA rules, every impending free agent carries a “cap hold” that remains on a team’s ledger until that player signs a new contract or the team renounces his rights. Those placeholders are designed to stop teams from spending their available space on outsiders and then exceeding the cap to re-sign their own players with Bird rights.
If the Pistons decide to create cap space, they can shed those holds by renouncing their free agents. Doing so, however, erases all Bird, Early Bird or Non-Bird exceptions tied to those players, forcing Detroit to use pure cap room or another exception to bring them back.
How cap holds are calculated
• First-round pick coming off rookie contract: 300% of the previous salary if it was below the league average, or 250% if it was above.
• Bird free agent: 190% of prior salary (below average) or 150% (above average).
• Early Bird free agent: 130% of prior salary.
• Non-Bird free agent: 120% of prior salary.
• Minimum-salary player: two-year veteran minimum, unless the player has just one year of service.
• Two-way player: one-year veteran minimum.
Restricted free agents carry whichever is larger: the figure produced by the above formula or their qualifying offer. No cap hold can exceed the maximum salary a player is allowed to sign for.
Examples across the league
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, classified as a Bird player, would normally have a hold equal to 150% of his $52,627,153 salary—nearly $79 million. Because that amount surpasses his projected maximum, his placeholder instead falls to the 10-year-plus max of $57,750,000, based on a $165 million cap.
Special rules apply to first-round picks whose third- or fourth-year options are declined. Their would-be option salary becomes both their cap hold and the highest figure their current team can offer. Orlando’s Jett Howard, whose $7,337,938 fourth-year option for 2026-27 was declined, cannot be re-signed by the Magic for more than that amount. Similarly, the Pacers—who acquired Kobe Brown after the Clippers declined his $4,792,058 option—are limited to that same figure for Brown, though any other club could exceed it.
Roster charges and unsigned picks
Teams with fewer than 12 players under contract also carry incomplete-roster charges. For 2026-27, each empty roster slot projects to count $1,358,084, reducing the maximum theoretical cap space to roughly $149 million even for a club with no other salary commitments.
Unsigned first-round selections trigger cap holds worth 120% of their rookie-scale amount. Second-round picks do not count against the cap until they sign.
Cap holds can linger
Unless a player signs elsewhere or is renounced, his placeholder stays on the books indefinitely. Golden State, for example, still carries cap holds for retired veterans Matt Barnes and David West so the club can remain over the cap and preserve its full array of exceptions. The Warriors could clear additional room at any time by finally renouncing those rights.
Source: Hoops Rumors
