NBA Salary Cap 2026-27 and Warriors, Rockets Among Teams Facing Hard Cap

Three NBA teams are currently projected to be hard-capped at the restrictive second luxury tax apron for the 2026-27 season.

According to Spotrac, the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns are facing a hard cap at the $221.7 million second apron next season.

Another 18 teams are set to be hard-capped at the $209 million first luxury tax apron, per Spotrac.

The only teams not set to be hard-capped by either luxury tax apron are the Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic and Oklahoma City Thunder, according to Spotrac.

The Thunder are the only team currently projected by Spotrac to exceed the second apron. Oklahoma City is projected to be $11.8 million over the limit with Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander each set for cap hits of more than $40 million.

The Suns are the closest hard-capped team to the second apron, with just $4.2 million in space before the limit after acquiring Miles Bridges from the Charlotte Hornets.

The franchise triggered the second apron cap by using cash in the four-team trade that allowed the Suns to select Koa Peat in the 2026 NBA draft, per Spotrac's Keith Smith.

The Warriors initially looked set to trigger a first-apron hard cap by re-signing De'Anthony Melton, per The Third Apron's Yossi Gozlan.

ESPN's Anthony Slater reported the Warriors could move Melton's contract from the biannual exception to the taxpayer midlevel exception, which would trigger the second-apron hard cap but allow the franchise to exceed the first apron.

That could be key to the Warriors' reported hopes of landing LeBron James in free agency.

The Rockets avoided their own first-apron hard cap but triggered the second-apron cap by using the taxpayer MLE to sign free agent Marcus Smart, per ESPN's Bobby Marks.

Avoiding the first-apron cap helped give the franchise flexibility to re-sign restricted free agency Tari Eason while keeping the door open to extend Amen Thompson, who The Athletic's William Guillory and Sam Amick reported in May could receive a deal in the range of five years and $250 million.