The Memphis Grizzlies are using advanced analytics to manage the salary cap.

“People talk about analytics in evaluating players, but there’s a lot of analytics around the salary cap,” said Josh Levien, the first-year CEO of the Grizzlies. “How much should we spend for a player at a certain position and what role he’s going to play? So that’s a lot of what we’ve done and are working on, is salary-cap analytics, being thoughtful about how we structure our roster and how we can get the best bang for our buck.”

The collective bargaining agreement imposes unprecedented penalties on teams exceeding the cap.

“With the rules set up the way they are, there’s minimal room for error,” Levien said. “You’ve got to be very thoughtful in your approach to how you build your team, how you build a roster, and you’ve got to keep the cap and the tax in mind.”