NBA Free Agency: Salary cap contract conversion tool
By Eric Maroun
With the infusion of TV money and the rising salary cap, this NBA free agency period will include some shocking contracts. This tool lets you convert those figures to equivalent dollars under the league’s old salary cap figures.
To quote Bob Dylan, “The times they are a-changin’.” And to quote AC/DC, “Money talks.” Both lines represent the new reality of the NBA’s salary cap environment as we head into the most unprecedented free agency period in the history of the league.
Thanks to the massive $24 billion television deal the NBA signed with ESPN and Turner Sports for the next nine years (roughly $2.6 billion per year), the salary cap is expected to explode from last year’s $70 million to a staggering $94 million for the upcoming 2016-17 season. Given that there is approximately one billion dollars of cap space, yes, billion with a “b”, available for the league’s 30 franchises to throw around, eye-popping contracts are going to be the norm, not the exception this summer.
As a result, it is important to keep proper perspective around the deals that will be announced when the free agency flood gates open on July 1. The 34 percent jump in the salary cap has created a world of inflation (hyperinflation?) where we can no longer look at $20 million per year being reserved for superstars only. Instead, that $20 million is going to be roughly the equivalent of the type of contract that Al Jefferson, DeMarre Carroll, Tony Parker, and Joakim Noah played under last season.
In order to help fans wrap their heads around the proper context in which to put forthcoming contracts in, we have developed an interactive tool to convert contracts handed out this offseason into their 2015-16 season equivalent terms. Rather than simply comparing previous contracts to new contracts on a dollar for dollar basis, this tool looks at the percentage of the salary cap taken up over the life of the contract. Projections for future salary caps through the 2020-21 season are from Marc Stein while the 2021-22 season is assumed to be $107 million, matching that of the prior year.
To use the tool, simply enter the length of the contract in years and total value of the contract in millions of dollars into the highlighted yellow cells. The tool will provide you with the percent of the cap the new deal will take up, the equivalent salary based on the 2015-16 cap environment, and a list of the 10 players from last season whose contracts are closest to the deal you are analyzing. All contract numbers from the prior year come from Basketball-Reference.com.
Enjoy free agency everyone! With the amount of money floating around, you might even land a mid-level exception deal yourself.
For more NBA free agency news, please check out our NBA free agency category page.