Cap hold

A cap hold is a placeholder the league parks on a team's cap for each of its own free agents. It isn't money paid to anyone, it's a reserved spot, sized as a percentage of the player's previous salary (his Bird bracket).

It exists to close a loophole. Without it, you could spend all your cap space on outside free agents and then still re-sign your own stars on top, using Bird rights, the exception that lets a team go over the cap for its own free agent. The hold makes you account for that re-signing up front.

A hold counts against the salary cap only, never the luxury tax or the aprons. It stays on the books until the player re-signs, signs elsewhere, or you renounce him, which clears the hold but gives up the Bird rights that let you re-sign him over the cap.