Roster limits
- Regular season, play-in and playoffs: up to 15 players, with no more than 12 active. The rest sit on the Inactive list (a player there with an injury shows as IR).
- Offseason, training camp and preseason: up to 20 players, and all of them can be active.
- Minimum: 8 players in the regular season, playoffs, training camp and preseason. A cut or a trade that would leave a team with fewer is refused. In the offseason (through free agency) there is no minimum, so a roster can turn over completely. At the camp and preseason gates the league office signs one-year minimum deals for any team short of 8, and the league moves on.
Never over the max
No move ever takes you over the max. A trade, signing or draft pick that would asks you to pick your cuts in the same move, on a make-room sheet that shows your staff's suggestion and what each cut changes. In a trade, players coming in can be among the cuts. A newcomer who arrives when you already have 12 active lands on the Inactive list, with a note telling you so.
Active and Inactive
Move players between Active and Inactive from the Roster tab, the Sidelined list on your Depth Chart, or by asking your coach in the staff room. Bringing a player back when the active list is full is a swap: the player going Inactive hands over their slot and minutes. While the league's anti-tanking check is on, you can't make a healthy rotation player Inactive (see Injuries), and a healthy player stuck there is unhappy about it.
Opening-night cut-down
In the preseason you can carry up to 20, but you must be down to 15 by opening night. A team over 15 gets one note in the preseason saying how many to cut and who goes if you don't. On the first night of the regular season the league cuts for any team still over, using your own depth chart: players off the chart and Inactive first (cheapest guaranteed money first), then the bench from the bottom up, starters last. If your chart can't get you to 15 under the normal rules (protected stars, the dead-money ceiling), the league cuts the rest anyway and your note says who. These are real waives, with dead money (see Money). Extra active players beyond 12 go Inactive by your chart the same way, with a note.
When the sim stops
The league fixes rosters as it goes rather than waiting on you. The sim only stops if a team is still over a limit after those fixes, or has fewer than five players who can play on a game day; the message names the team and what it needs.