Releasing Players

[Ace]

Cap Hits

Any player dropped before the first game after the All-Star break still has part of his contract count against the cap in the following manner: Current year: 75%, Next year: 60%, All future years after: 30%. 10% penalty for buyouts (see below).

After this the penalty for the current year increases to 90% until after the August 31st free agency deadline.

If the player is dropped after this then the cap hits change to 100%, 50%, 25%, respectively with no penalty for buyouts.

The penalty is rounded up to the nearest $100,000.

If you re-sign a player that you had released within the last 30 days then their original contract is restored if more expensive and the new deal can't be longer than the old one.

Any player released under a prospect contract (prior to arbitration) will not cause a hit to the cap; however if the player has surpassed the rookie limits then any cap room gained via a demotion or release after September 7th cannot be used to fund buyouts.

There is a Release/Buyout Calculator that shows the penalties for dropping a contract.

Buyouts

Alternatively you may perform a buyout in which you add up the total remaining amount on the contract after the above percentages have been applied. Remember to multiply by 1.1 if it's before the free agent deadline and to always round up to the nearest 100k. You may then allocate the penalty any way you want so long as you don't add more years and no year has more dead money than the one before it.

12m, 10m, 10m contract bought out in June would be calculated as:

9m+6m+3m=18m
x1.1=19.8m

Can charge 19.8m to current season
Can charge 6.6m to each of 3 seasons
Or anything in between

Cash Exchanges

For future seasons these are subtracted up to the amount of the cap hit for both normal releases and buyouts. Any additional cash exchange may be used during the current season to fund a buyout.