A) Salary Cap Calculation:
Each season, the salary cap is determined by the average of the highest salaries required to fill the teams to the ten-player minimum. A “Rookie” bonus is then added to the cap to counter the impact of rookie slot values introduced during the draft.
B) Draft Order Determination:
Draft order is established through a lottery system. Teams that did not make the playoffs have the highest number of entries, followed by expansion teams, and then playoff teams. Playoff team entries decrease incrementally based on their playoff performance.
C) Player Selection:
General Managers (GMs) will select players from the pool based on the assigned values.
D) Draft Procedure:
Teams will be called upon with a 2-minute timer to make their selection. If a team fails to select within the given time, they will be bypassed, and the next team will be prompted to make a selection. The bypassed team will have an additional chance to pick after the next team, with a 2-minute window. If the same team fails to select a second time in the round, their pick for the round will be forfeited.
E) Salary Cap Management:
Teams must monitor their team salary cap during the draft. Overspending early could force teams to bypass rounds if they cannot afford any available players at their current price tag.
F) Rookie and Vet Salary Assignment:
All rookies and veterans with a $500,000 salary will be assigned a salary based on the slot they are selected in. Slot values are predetermined before the draft based on the average veteran salary for that slot.
G) Salary Reduction for Remaining Players:
Players remaining on the board on or after round 7 will have their salary reduced to $500,000 and will not be affected by slot values.
H) Beyond Round 10:
In round 10 and beyond, players selected will not impact the team’s salary cap. The draft continues until all players on the board are selected, and teams cannot exceed 15 players. If all teams reach this limit, the remaining players will be added to free agency, waiting for a slot to open on a team