TITLE: Nets Remain Slightly Under NBA’s Minimum Salary Floor After Latest Signings
SLUG: nets-still-short-of-2025-26-minimum-salary-floor
CONTENT:
The Brooklyn Nets have re-signed Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams, but the franchise is still operating just under the NBA’s required minimum salary floor for the 2025-26 season.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Brooklyn’s current team salary sits at roughly $138.53 million. The league’s minimum floor is $139.18 million—90 percent of next season’s $154.65 million salary cap—leaving the Nets about $649,000 short.
Deadline to Reach the Floor
The Collective Bargaining Agreement now requires every club to meet the salary floor by the opening of the regular season. Teams that fail to do so forfeit their share of the year-end luxury-tax distribution and have the difference between their payroll and the floor frozen as unusable cap space.
Non-taxpaying teams split approximately $11.5 million apiece last season. With a similar payout expected in 2025-26, Brooklyn is unlikely to leave the money on the table.
Roster Math Complicates the Gap
Brooklyn’s offseason additions pushed the roster to 18 players, four of whom hold non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed deals. Setting a 15-man roster could push the club further from the floor. For example, waiving Tyrese Martin, Drew Timme and Keon Johnson would trim about $6.23 million and widen the deficit to roughly $6.87 million.
Possible Paths to Compliance
While an above-minimum free-agent signing remains an option, Brooklyn has preferred to use its remaining cap space—currently $16.1 million—to absorb unwanted contracts in exchange for draft capital. The Nets followed that strategy earlier in the summer by taking on Michael Porter Jr. along with an unprotected 2032 first-round pick, acquiring Terance Mann with the No. 22 pick in this year’s draft, and bringing in Haywood Highsmith plus a 2032 second-rounder.
The organization can also open additional flexibility by cutting or guaranteeing select non-guaranteed contracts before finalizing its regular-season roster.
No timetable has been announced, but the Nets must resolve the shortfall before the season tips off to preserve full cap functionality and qualify for their share of the luxury-tax distribution.
Source: Hoops Rumors
