As free agency gets underway, which teams have the most money to spend on available players? This offseason, several franchises have significantly more money to spend than others, giving them a chance to transform their rosters.
Lakers, Nets, Bulls Have the Most Cap Room Entering 2026 NBA Free Agency
The NBA’s free agency period gets underway today at 6 p.m. ET. By the first day of the regular season, teams must spend 90% of the salary cap. The teams with the most money to spend are the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, and Chicago Bulls.
With LeBron James deciding to leave the Lakers, they could have as much as $52 million in cap room (if they also move on from Luke Kennard, Rui Hachimura, and Marcus Smart). The Nets could have as much as $37 million cap space, while the Bulls have $26 million available, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
As Marks writes, “In the 2025 offseason, just three teams (the Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, and Milwaukee Bucks) used cap room to improve their rosters or acquire salary in a trade.”
Marks attributes the lack of cap room to increases in rookie and veteran extensions. With that said, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Chicago have significant cap space available to make a splash.
The Nets already made a big move, using some of their cap space to acquire Julius Randle in a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers are reportedly making a run at restricted free agents Jalen Duren and Walker Kessler among others with their cap room.
Teams like the Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, and Los Angeles Clippers can create cap room as well, but at the expense of their own players.
For example, Marks notes that “Detroit could create up to $21 million in room but at the expense of renouncing every free agent except for Duren, waiving Duncan Robinson and trading Caris LeVert.” If Duren moves on from the Pistons in restricted free agency or via a sign-and-trade, they could free up even more space. The Clippers could free up to $30 million in cap room, but it would require similar maneuvering.
NBA free agency is always full of surprises, and this offseason has already featured a number of fireworks — from James deciding to leave Los Angeles to the Timberwolves’ blockbuster trade for LaMelo Ball to Ja Morant landing with the Portland Trail Blazers. All eyes will be on these teams over the next few weeks to see how they’ll spend their cap space and what surprises are in store.
