According to an early projection, the 2017-18 NBA salary is reportedly going to be around $102 million, roughly $6 million lower than expected.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, “In a new projection sent to teams today, league projecting salary cap next season to be $102M, lower than previous $108 million.”
In a new projection sent to teams today, league projecting salary cap next year to be $102M, lower than previous $108M projection.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 7, 2016
With all the television money coming into the NBA over the last few years, and with the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in place between the 30 NBA owners and the National Basketball Players’ Association (NBPA), this projected $6 million difference in next summer’s NBA salary cap could have serious implications on how all teams and players handle 2017 NBA free agency.
Instead of gradually smoothing out the television money to avoid more volatile jumps in the cap, as the owners had preferred, the cap leapt from $70 million in 2015-16 to $94.113 million in 2016-17. The players hitting the market this summer may have gotten a huge break, while players in the 2017 free agency could get a raw deal next summer.
This $6 million difference doesn’t seem like much, but it could have lingering effects for teams trying to keep their top players from leaving in free agency next summer. Bird rights will play a bigger factor than anticipated in next summer’s free agency, but some NBA team is going to lose a top-tier player because of this $6 million projected salary cap discrepancy.
Inevitably, some players in the 2017 NBA free agency class will ask for contracts comparable to those of their counterparts in this summer’s free agency, but may only get 90 cents on the dollar. This $6 million may not be enough to dictate a marquee free agent’s destination, but could prove costly in a team’s efforts to re-sign a high-end role player.
For more NBA free agency news, please check out our NBA free agency category page.