Who Is Considered "Active"?

Who Is Considered "Active"?

Defining "Active" Status: Coaches & Players

On Basketball Reference, players and coaches are defined as active or inactive according to the following guidelines.

Coaches

On the coaches register, only currently active head coaches are bolded.

  • The number of bolded names can never exceed the number of head coaching positions. If there are 30 teams, no more than 30 coaches are bolded. If 8 of those jobs are vacant, only 22 names are bolded.
  • A former head coach who is still working in the NBA as an assistant or an executive is not considered "active" for the purposes of the head coaching register.
  • The same rules apply to WNBA coaches.

Players

A player is considered active for a given season if they are under contract at any point during the league year (which generally runs from July 1 through June 30).

What counts as under contract:

  • Standard contracts
  • Camp deals
  • Two-way contracts

G-League players are considered active NBA players, provided they have an NBA page. Playing in the G-League for less money than they could earn overseas signals that a player is still pursuing an NBA career.

A player is marked inactive immediately, regardless of contract status, if they:

  • Die
  • Retire
  • Are banned from the league

Players overseas: A former NBA player currently playing overseas is not considered active, unless they return to the NBA or the G-League.