they passed this rule a few years ago.... due to the number of bloated salaries, teams were getting stuck with over paid players and did not have enough salary cap room.. its not like baseball where u can pay as much as you want... in the nba, there is a limit and if u cross it, u have to pay a luxury tax which is very high.... so a lot of teams... they are just buying the guy's contract out.... which means that they continue to pay their salaries, but that salary will not count on the salary cap... most notable salaries that were bought out (approximations of course): alan houston 20 mil - knicks webber 21 mil - 6ers jalen rose 14 mil - knicks finley 16 mil - mavs