Your cap situation is never fixed. These five actions are how you reshape it: each one trades pain now for relief later, or relief now for pain later. Knowing which lever to pull, and when, is most of the skill in cap management.
Cut (and dead cap)
Cutting a player removes him from your roster, but any guaranteed money left on his deal stays on your books as dead cap. Cutting a cheap, non-guaranteed player is free relief; cutting a big guaranteed contract can hurt more than keeping it. Capr shows you the exact dead-cap charge before you confirm.
Post-June 1 designation
A post-June 1 cut splits the dead cap over two seasons instead of taking it all now: this year absorbs only this year's share of the guarantee, and the rest rolls to next season. More relief today, a bill tomorrow. Each team gets 2 designations per offseason by default (leagues can allow up to 5).
Restructure
A restructure converts current salary into money spread across the remaining years of the deal, lowering this year's cap hit and raising future ones. It's the contender's tool: space now, paid back later. Teams get 1 restructure per season by default (up to 5 if your league allows).
Extend
An extension adds years to an existing contract before it expires, priced the same way as a re-sign. By default an extension can add up to 2 years. Extending a year early usually beats re-signing at the market's new price, if you believe in the player.
Buyout
A buyout releases the player and spreads his dead cap evenly across two or three seasons, your choice, instead of charging it all this year. It is the gentlest exit from a big guaranteed deal: the same total, paid in instalments. A three-year spread never costs more this season than a two-year one, so the cap page quotes the best saving and names the spread that gets it. Each team gets 1 buyout per season by default.
Default limits per team (commissioner-adjustable)
- Post-June 1 designations
- Default 2 per offseasonRange 1–5
- Splits a cut's dead cap across two seasons.
- Restructures
- Default 1 per seasonRange 1–5
- Push current salary into future years.
- Extension length
- Default Up to 2 added yearsRange 1 to league max
- Years that can be added in a single extension.
- Buyouts
- Default 1 per seasonRange 1–5
- Spread a cut's dead cap evenly over two or three seasons.