You love NBA free agency and transfers. I love NBA free agency and transfers. We all do. Perverts like me love it so much that we dig into legal documents to find out exactly what is and isn’t allowed. But we all want to have all the information about our favorite franchises’ team-building options at our fingertips whenever we need it.

With that in mind, SB Nation has partnered with SalarySwish, and alongside their data, we’re trying to answer every single question you might have about the Bucks’ financial situation. Questions about the first or second apron and the Bucks’ relationship with them? How few draft picks do they have available to trade? How much money is in the bank after next summer? The answers are here, and it’s an updated, living and breathing document with all the relevant context as the Bucks move forward. I recommend you bookmark this page to stay up to date with all the latest changes!

Now that the Bucks’ offseason dust has settled and their standard roster is full with fifteen guaranteed contracts and three two-way deals, let’s take a look at where they stand…

Bucks roster, salaries, draft picks, cap space and more

Here is a table with all of the Bucks salary information, courtesy of our friends at SalarySwish:

That’s a lot to digest, so let’s take a closer look at a few key points and their significance that might answer any questions that come to your mind while reading.

Do the Bucks have salary cap room? If not, when will they?

No, not currently. The NBA’s salary cap for 2024-25 is about $140.6 million, and the Bucks’ current payroll of $192.2 million puts them well over the cap. That number will rise to $193.1 million in early January if Andre Jackson Jr.’s salary is guaranteed for the season, which seems very likely. While some option moves could put them under the cap next offseason, it’s more likely they’ll have cap space again in the summer of 2026, when the only money on the books is Giannis Antetokoumpo plus Damian Lillard’s player option.

Do the Bucks pay the luxury tax? If so, how much is their bill?

First, they’re actually about $21.3 million over the NBA’s $170.8 million luxury tax limit, and if AJax gets his full guarantee, they’ll be $22.3 million over it. Since the Bucks have been under that tax since their 2021 championship season, they’re subject to a replay penalty that drives up their fee per dollar spent. That $22.3 million overage equates to a $74.8 million tax payment, so the total cost of the roster is a whopping $267.9 million when you factor in each player’s salary plus the Bucks’ overage penalties. The luxury tax isn’t calculated until the last day of the regular season, though, so that number could decrease if they make a trade that reduces team salary, or increase if they waive a player whose salary is guaranteed and fill his spot on the roster with another guaranteed player, such as through severance.

Are the Bucks above the luxury tax when it comes to the first or second apron?

They certainly are! In fact, both. For 2024-25, the first apron is $178.1 million and the second apron is $188.9 million. While their team salary is $192.2 million, unlikely incentives (like the $2.3 million built into Khris Middleton’s contract) are factored into calculating a team’s “apron salary.” Thus, they are about $5.6 million above the second apron now, and will be $6.5 million above it in January after AJax’s guarantee. That means they are subject to a number of restrictions, which you can read more about here. All of the prohibitions that apply to teams above the first and second aprons are what Milwaukee is currently facing.

Can the Bucks use the mid-level exception or the biennial exception? Are there any trade exceptions?

While the Bucks technically can take advantage of those exceptions by imposing a hard cap on them (more on that below), meaning they currently have no practical way to use them. If they wanted to use some of the $5.2 million taxpayer share of the mid-level cap, they would have to cut team salary by about $11.7 million. They wouldn’t take advantage of more than that or the semi-annual hard caps for teams on the first apron, which the Bucks currently exceed by nearly $15 million.

Do the Bucks have a salary cap?

They are not! Since they have not yet done anything that would trigger a first or second apron cap (you can find out what that is here), they can set their team salary (and tax bill) as high as they want next season. If the Bucks want to do something that would cap them on either the first or second apron, they would have to reduce salary – possibly as a result of that action – to the appropriate cap. For example, if they any As part of the mid-league exemption, they would have to reduce team salaries to a maximum of $188.9 million and would not be allowed to exceed that mark until the end of the league year on June 30, 2025.

I heard the second apron prevents the Bucks from trading or combining multiple players. How does that work?

That’s mostly true. Milwaukee can trade two players and their salaries as long as what they get in return isn’t more expensive than the more expensive player they’re trading. Teams above the first apron like the Bucks can’t take back more salary than they spend, but if they trade away Pat Connaughton and MarJon Beauchamp, for example, they can take back up to $9.4 million (Connaughton’s salary) without having to match. Beauchamp wouldn’t be needed to match salary.

However, if they wanted to sign someone who makes between Connaughton’s $9.4 million and $12.2 million (the combined salary of those two), they would have to pool together to match the incoming salary. Since that would put them firmly on the second apron, their team salary would have to be under that $188.9 million total. in conclusion of the transaction. In this example, the trade would not be legal as it stands, because even if they only got $9.5 million back, they would be over the second apron.

Will the Bucks be under the first or second draft next offseason?

It’s likely that Milwaukee can drop below the second apron in the summer of 2025. Current projections put the first apron at $195.9 million and the second apron at $207.8 million, while the Bucks currently have $178.1 million guaranteed for seven players in 2025-26. This includes all three player options on Middleton, Bobby Portis and Connaughton. If any of them decline their option and leave as a free agent, it’s possible the Bucks could move below the first apron next summer.

Jackson, Beauchamp, AJ Green and Chris Livingston have team options totaling $11.5 million. If they are all picked up, the Bucks would have committed $189.6 million for 11 players and would need to fill at least three more roster spots. They would have the veteran minimum and the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (projected to be $5.7 million) to use on free agents, and they could pool players together, but the last two would put them firmly under on the second apron.

Which draft picks can the Bucks trade?

The Bucks can currently trade their own first-round pick in the 2031 NBA Draft, but not any other first-round picks. While they control first-round picks in the 2026, 2028 and 2030 drafts, meaning they can draft a player in those years, the selections themselves are all encumbered by pick swaps, so they can’t be traded. The only second-round pick the Bucks can currently trade is also in 2031.

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