You love NBA free agency and trades. I love NBA free agency and trades. We all do. Sickos like me love it so much that we delve into legal documents to figure out exactly what is permitted and what isn’t. But all of us want all the information about the team-building options available to our favorite franchises at our fingertips whenever we need them.

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

Now that the dust has settled on the Bucks offseason and their standard roster is full with fifteen guaranteed contracts and three two-way deals, let’s take a glance 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 swallow, so let’s dive into a few key pieces and what they mean, which could answer any questions that pop into your head while reading.

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

No, not currently. The NBA’s salary cap for 2024–25 is approximately $140.6m, and with the Bucks’ present payroll of $183.2m, they’re way over the cap. While some option decisions could technically put them under the cap this offseason, it’s more likely that they will next have cap room in the summer of 2026, when the only money on the books is Giannis Antetokoumpo plus Damian Lillard’s player option.

Are the Bucks paying the luxury tax? If so, how much is their bill?

Firstly, they are indeed over the NBA’s luxury tax line of $170.8m by about $11m. Since the Bucks have been in the tax since their 2021 championship season, they are subject to a repeater penalty which knocks up their fee per every dollar spent. That $11m overage works out to a $29.4m tax payment, making the roster cost a whopping $212.9m altogether when factoring in each player’s salary plus the Bucks’ overage penalties. However, luxury tax bills aren’t calculated until the final day of the regular season, so this number could increase if they waive a player whose salary is guaranteed and fill his roster spot with another guaranteed player, or sign players to 10-day contracts.

Are the Bucks over the first or second apron above the luxury tax?

After the 2025 trade deadline, they are now over just the first apron. For 2024–25, the first apron is $178.1m, and the second apron is $188.9m. While their team salary is $183.2m, unlikely incentives (like the $2.7m built into Kyle Kuzma’s contract) and cap-tax variance credits (like the $1.4m they received for Bobby Portis’ 25-game suspension. are included when calculating any team’s “apron salary.” Thus, they’re about $7.8m over the first apron currently but about $3m under the second apron, where they are hard-capped. That means they are subject to a bunch of restrictions, which you can read more about here. All prohibitions that apply to teams above both the first apron are what Milwaukee currently faces, but those for the second apron no longer apply. Most notably, the Bucks cannot sign any bought-out player who made over $12.4m on his previous contract.

Can the Bucks use the mid-level exception or bi-annual exception? Do they have any trade exceptions?

While the Bucks technically can use those exceptions, some of them would hard-cap them at the first apron (more on this below), meaning they don’t have a practical way to use them right now. If they wanted to use anything more than the $5.2m taxpayer portion of the mid-level, they’d need to cut about $7.8m in team salary. Using any more than that or using the bi-annual hard-caps teams at the first apron, which the Bucks are currently over by that $7.8m figure. With their hard cap at the second apron, the Bucks can only use about $2.9m of the TPMLE for the rest of the league year.

Are the Bucks hard-capped?

They are, as of the 2025 deadline. Because they sent cash to New York for Delon Wright, which triggered a hard cap at the second apron (you can find out what those are here), their apron salary (currently $185.9m) cannot cross $188.9m under any circumstances. If the Bucks wanted to make any move that would hard-cap them at the first apron, like signing a bought-out player making over $12.4m, they would need to reduce salary to beneath the first apron, which is essentially impossible at this point.

I heard the second apron restricts the Bucks from trading or aggregating multiple players. How does this work?

That’s mostly right, but now that they’re under it, they can aggregate freely this offseason. Doing that also hard-caps them at the second apron, so their team salary would have to be below the $188.9m second apron (or next year’s second apron figure, estimated at $207.8m) at the conclusion of the transaction. Milwaukee can trade two players and their salaries if whatever they receive in return isn’t more expensive than the more expensive player they’re trading because teams above the first apron, like the Bucks, cannot take back more salary than they send out. But if they sent out Pat Connaughton and Chris Livingston this summer, for example, they could take back up to $9.4m (Connaughton’s salary) without needing to aggregate. Livingston wouldn’t be needed to match salary.

Will the Bucks be beneath the first or second apron next offseason?

It seems likely that Milwaukee will drop under the first apron in the summer of 2025. Current projections have the first apron at $195.9m and the second apron at $207.8m, while the Bucks currently have $158m guaranteed for seven players in 2025–26. That includes all three of Bobby Portis, Kevin Porter Jr., and Connaughton’s player options. If any of them decline their option and leave in free agency, the Bucks will have even more room to operate under the first apron this summer.

Jackson, AJ Green, and Chris Livingston have team options that total $6.7m. If all of them are picked up, the Bucks would have $164.8m committed to ten guys and would need to fill at least four more roster spots. They would have the veteran’s minimum and non-taxpayer mid-level exception (projected to be $14.4m) to use in free agency, plus they could aggregate players. Using the full MLE would hard-cap them at the first apron, as would taking back more than 100% of their outgoing salary in a trade. Aggregating salaries to match salaries would hard-cap them at the second apron.

What draft picks can the Bucks currently trade?

The Bucks can trade their own first-round pick in the 2031 NBA Draft, but no other firsts. While they do control first-round picks in the 2026, 2028, and 2030 drafts, meaning they will be able to draft a player in those years, the selections themselves are encumbered by pick swaps, so they cannot be traded, only re-swapped again as occurred in the Khris Middleton-Kyle Kuzma deal. The second-round picks the Bucks can currently trade are in 2025, 2026, and 2031. At the conclusion of the 2025 NBA Draft, they will also be able to trade their first and second-round picks in 2032.

If you found this page useful, please bookmark it and/or share, and if you have any questions or information you’d like to see included, let us know in the comments below!

Updated March 4, 2025.