GM Mode: running a front office under a hard cap

Read the cap sheet before you touch anything

The cap is hard. Every roster move is checked against it, and a move that puts you over is simply not available — there is no luxury-tax escape hatch to buy your way out of a bad summer.

Three numbers matter on the cap sheet: total payroll, space remaining, and how much of your payroll expires at the end of the season. Expiring money is what makes a deadline trade possible, so a team with none is far less flexible than its space alone suggests.

Dead money from waived players counts against you. Waiving a bad contract feels decisive and usually is not — it converts a player you can trade into a number you cannot.

Valuing a trade

The trade desk scores both sides of a package and shows the swing as you add assets, so you can see instantly whether a deal is close before you send it. The value model weighs overall rating, age, position scarcity and the money owed, which is why a 30-year-old star on a big contract is worth much less than his rating suggests.

Draft picks are priced on a three-year horizon and on the expected finish of the team that owns them. A pick from a contender is a late pick and should be treated as a sweetener, not a centrepiece.

Restructures and extensions can be folded into a proposal. Reworking money inside a trade is often the cheapest way to make an otherwise fair deal legal under the cap.

The draft is where cheap value comes from

Rookie contracts are the only place in a hard-cap league where you get production well below market price. A hit in the lottery funds a contending roster for four years; a miss costs you a roster spot and cap room you cannot recover.

Draft for the shape of your roster in two years, not the hole you have tonight. The player you draft will not be a positive contributor immediately, and reaching for immediate need is the most common way front offices in this mode end up with five copies of the same player.

Free agency and roster construction

In free agency you are bidding against the rest of the league with the space you kept. The players who move the needle usually cost more than the model says they are worth, which is fine for a team one piece away and ruinous for a team three pieces away.

Aim for a starting five with complementary shapes and a bench with at least two players who can absorb minutes when someone gets hurt. Injuries are simulated across the season, so a top-heavy roster looks great in October and collapses in February.

Game day: substitutions, fouls and fatigue

You can coach individual games. Stamina drains per possession, foul trouble is tracked live, and injuries can happen mid-game, so rotations matter in the moment rather than only in the abstract.

Quick-sub presets cover most of it: best five for a close finish, fresh legs when the bench is holding a lead, closers for the last four minutes. The emergency sub button pulls anyone who is gassed or in foul trouble in one tap, which is what you want when three things go wrong at once.

Frequently asked

Is GM Mode free?

The first season of GM Mode is free for everyone. Continuing into season two and beyond requires an active membership.

Can I go over the salary cap?

No. The cap is enforced on every move, so trades, signings and extensions that would put you over are blocked. Restructuring contracts inside a trade is the usual way to make a deal fit.

How are trade offers from other teams generated?

Other front offices evaluate your roster against their own needs and send offers on their own schedule. Every incoming offer is scored the same way your proposals are, so you can see whether it is actually favourable before answering.

Does GM Mode affect my career records?

No. Front office runs are tracked separately on the GM leaderboard and do not touch your player careers, legacy score or Hall of Fame entries.