Report: NBA gives teams 2017-18 season’s salary cap projection
The NBA’s salary cap is projected to rise for the 2017-18 season, but by how much?
NBA contracts began to further take off during the 2016 offseason. This saw deals given out like never seen before, all due to the salary cap rising to $94.1 million. It led to Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley becoming the highest-paid player at his position for the 2016-17 season. His deal will rise to $32 million in 2019-20 and to $34 million for 2020-21, if he uses an early termination option.
If deals like this seemed ludicrous, then expect the level of them to increase over the coming seasons. More specifically, this will begin to take place with the 2017-18 salary cap, which is projected to rise from the previously-noted mark to $101 million, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.
This is a moderate increase, which will open the door for teams to give out more money to free agents or re-sign their own. Some players that wouldn’t normally receive significant money may be a beneficiary, too.
The salary cap change may help someone like Blake Griffin, who is scheduled to be a free agent. He could receive a higher max salary from the Los Angeles Clippers and a not-so-lucrative but sizable deal from another organization. This may also help potential free agents like Serge Ibaka, Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague — some of the big names from the upcoming class.
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The NBA increasing the salary cap should make for another offseason of wheeling and dealing, featuring plenty of expensive contracts to players you may or may not think deserve them. It will help trades, too, opening up room for organizations to potentially take on bigger contracts in team-to-team transactions. There’s still three months to go before its impact is felt, so let’s see what unfolds beforehand.