Waivers are the process by which a released player's contract is offered to other teams, which may claim the player and the contract before the player becomes a free agent.
Waivers are the league's lost and found. When a team releases a player, the contract does not vanish: it sits on the waiver wire for forty eight hours, during which any other team may claim the player and assume the contract in full, with priority running in reverse standings order, worst teams first. If nobody claims the deal, the player clears waivers and becomes a free agent, while the original team stays responsible for much of the money.
The system exists to spread opportunity downward and stop rich teams from simply stockpiling released talent. In practice it produces its own season of strategy: the waiver claim that blocks a rival, the expensive contract nobody touches, and the post deadline buyout market, where veterans and contenders agree on releases timed so the player clears waivers and signs where he chose.
Cap questions often hide waiver math, since a claimed contract lands entirely on the new team's books and a cleared one becomes dead money on the old team's cap. For quizzes, the essentials are order and time: forty eight hours, worst first, claim the contract or pass. The term turns roster cuts from an ending into a league wide event.
In use"He cleared waivers on Thursday and signed with a contender the next day."