TRANSACTION TRACKER:

GLOSSARY / GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE NBL ROSTER REGULATIONS:

Local: Any player with an Australian or New Zealand passport.

Import: Also known as a Restricted Player, it includes any player not from Australia or New Zealand or one of the SRP countries listed below. NBL teams have always included at least one import. Currently, teams have two (of the total eleven) import spots available on their rosters. The number was decreased from 3 to 2 due to Covid 19, but is being restored to three imports for the 2021-22 season. An import’s salary is negotiated in US dollars and is converted into Australian dollars (for the purpose of salary cap figures) at a flat rate of 92 cents in the dollar. While this makes no difference to how an import player is paid, it does mean a lower figure is counted towards the salary cap.

Next Star: Announced in 2018, the Next Stars program is designed to provide young athletes (typically American, but also applies to NZ and Australian players) with a professional option to prepare them for the NBA draft. Each team has an additional roster spot on top of their allotted eleven players to sign a player should they choose to. A Next Star contracted player receives a salary of A$100,000 which is paid for by the NBL (not the team) and is not counted under the NBL salary cap. A Next Star contract is a two-year deal, with the idea being they will be bought out by an NBA team once drafted (or by any other international team) - the buy-out profits being split between the league and the club. In recent years this $100k figure has become murky, with some players having been reported to be receiving $500k for their Next Star contract. The league has not provided any insight into changes, with deals likely now conducted on a case-by-case basis, behind closed doors.
A team can sign a draft-and-stash player to a Next Star deal, provided they were drafted in the most recent NBA draft. Players who enter the NBA draft and are not drafted are ineligible.

Special Restricted Player (SRP): An overseas player from any of the following countries: China, Phillippines, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Singapore, Japan. These players are viewed as 'locals’ - however, their salaries are not counted under the salary cap. This makes them very attractive to teams with cash to spend, but limited cap-space. The system is designed to attract players from ‘large viewership markets’ in the geographic region in order to promote the league internationally. These countries have changed over time, the list above is current as of 2021.

Marquee Player: A ‘high level’ Australian or New Zealand player who may attract a significant salary. Most teams do not publically specificy who they have picked for these spots, so the information is not available in the above data. Each team is allowed one marquee player on their roster and their salary which counts towards the cap is fixed (regardless of what it actually is). Teams can choose to switch one of their two (or three depending on the season) import spots out for an additional Marquee Player spot should they choose. Each additional Marquee Player spot used counts slightly more than the previous towards the salary cap. According to the NBL in 2024-25, the scale is as follows:
Marquee One : $233,697.34 (available by default)
Marquee Two : $311,597.82 (using this will remove one import spot)
Marquee Three : $389,496.93 (using this will remove a second import spot)
Marquee Four : $467,396.04 (using this will remove the third import spot (…likely no one will ever use this.))

Development Player (DEV): An Australian or New Zealand player under the age of 25 who has never previously been contracted by an NBL club. Teams may sign up to four development players each season and must have at least one. Their minimum salary is $20,215.35 as of the 2023-24 season.

Injury Replacement Player (I.R.): Should a rostered player get injured, a team has the option of either filling that spot with a development player (see above) or getting in an Injury Replacement Player to fill the injured player’s spot. This player’s salary is counted towards the cap for the games he plays. Once the injured player returns, the I.R. player must vacate his spot.

Reconciliation Action Plan Player (RAP): From the 2021-22 season onwards, the NBL funds 50% of the minimum salary for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander players signed on development player deals. As above, the minimum Development Player salary is around $20,215.35, meaning around $10107 of each RAP Player’s contract is funded by the league. Any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander player signing their first full NBL contract (not a development contract) has their entire salary go uncounted towards the salary cap - but is not subsidised by the league like a development deal is. Should they re-sign a second contract, 50% of the salary will be counted towards the cap.

Team/Player/Mutual Options: On signing a multiyear contract, stipulations can be added to additional seasons which give either the team or player control over whether that contract is continued in the future. A player option means the player can decide whether or not to return in a given year. A team option means the team gets to decide whether they hold that player’s rights for another year. Typically a player option will be added as an additional bargaining chip to help convince a desirable player to sign with their club by essentially passing them the control over future seasons.
A mutual option requires both the team and the player to opt-in to that year of the deal.

Contract Length: The maximum contract length in the NBL is 3 years

NBL Salary Cap: The NBL operates with a soft salary cap. This means teams can choose to spend over the cap but are financially penalised for doing so through a luxury-tax style system. The current soft cap system was introduced in 2016 after years of the league being controlled by means of a hard cap ($1,000,000) and a bizarre and opaque player points system.
The soft cap is re-determined each season based on the previous season’s cumulative spend by all of the teams divided by the number of teams in the league (new cap =total spend of all teams / number of teams). No matter how much teams spend in a previous season, the cap cannot increase by more than 7% each season. For the 2021-22 NBL season, the cap was set at $1,637,000, in 2023-24 this increased to $1,820,245.40 and in 2024-25 this increased again to $1,947,662.58.
Teams who spend over the cap are subject to a luxury tax with the rate determined by just how much over the cap they have spent:
1 - 15% over : 25c on each dollar over
16 - 30% over : 50c on each dollar over
31 - 50% over : $1 on each dollar over
> 50% over : $1.50 on each dollar over
The tax collected by the league is then used to fund a ‘Salary Equalisation Subsidy’ which teams who require ‘special assistance’ to meet the salary floor (see below) can apply for to help make ends meet. To qualify for the subsidy, teams need to prove they are; doing their best to make the salary floor without the subsidy and are making an attempt to not be reliant on the subsidy on a repeating basis.

NBL Salary Floor: Essentially the opposite of the salary cap. It’s the minimum amount each team must spend on their roster each season. It’s a floating figure, tied to 90% of where the salary cap is each season - or an increase of 2% over last season - whichever is the higher figure. The NBL salary floor for the 2021—22 season is $1,473,300, it increased to $1,638,237.24 for the 2023-24 season and increased again in 2024-25 to $1,752,913.85.

Five Player Max Salary Rule: This rule is an attempt by the league to bring parity to the teams. It states that the five lowest paid players on a roster cannot have their combined salaries add to more than 40% of the salary cap in that season. In theory, this means a team needs to have lower-paid players on their roster to balance out their top-level talent. For the 2023-24 season the combined figure is $655,294.90. In 2024-25 this number increased to $701,165.54 It is unclear how league subsidies and cap exceptions (RAP players, SRP, Next Stars, and marquee exceptions for example) are counted in this regard.

Player Salaries:
Essentially, there are two facets to this. What a player actually gets paid and what the league deems their ‘value’ to be.

Firstly, player’s actual salaries are not yet made public by the league, but a few of the figures are available as a guide:

NBL minimum salary: $69,748.76 for the 2023-24 season and increasing to $74,540.23 for 2024-25. Increasing again to $74,540.23 in 2024-25
NBL Development Player minimum salary: $20,215.35 for the 2023-24 season and increasing to $21,630.42 in 2024-25

According to some reports, a NBL average salary is/was around $146,000 in 2020-21. On an individual basis (outside of a couple of media reports) we really have no idea what players are paid, despite what people on NBL forums will tell you.

HOWEVER, the actual salaries received by players are not necessarily what is counted towards each team’s salary-cap figure. The NBL independently reviews each full roster salary and assigns a value to each player based on what they deem the ‘market value’ of that player to be. It is that value, rather than the actual value that is counted towards a team’s cap. Usually, the independent review just matches what the team has offered the player, but in some cases, the panel of reviewers will override that figure. In the past, figures have fluctuated by up to $100k in each direction based on the panel’s decisions.

The higher figure out of their actual salary or their ‘market value’ is counted towards the cap. This system means that if a team decides to ‘over-pay’ for a highly desirable player they can, but the higher figure will count towards the cap (not the market value), or conversely - a team that signs a player at a perceived discounted rate will actually have their market value counted.