NBA Free Agency: Official league salary cap projection decreases
In the midst of a crazy week of transactions, the NBA announced last night that its official salary cap estimate for the 2017-2018 season is down to $99 million.
According to a report by Jay King of MassLive.com, the NBA has officially lowered the league salary cap projection from $101 million to $99 million. The $2 million difference could have major ramifications across the NBA as the offseason progresses. Teams planned the whole season assuming that the league cap figure would be $101 million. We’ve already seen some wild moves this summer and with teams having to adjust a year’s worth of planning in about ten days, matters could get even more bizarre.
With the cap plateauing more abruptly than expected, cap room is becoming increasingly valuable. The Celtics for example, are attempting to preserve space for a max offer. The calculus for them to successfully open up that cap room has just gotten way more difficult. Every single dollar is going to matter if they want to sign Gordon Hayward or Blake Griffin.
In addition, the luxury tax estimate has declined from $121 million to $119 million. After engaging in extravagant spending sprees in the 2016 offseason, many teams are already running into luxury tax issues. A difference of $2 million in the league’s projection will make ducking the tax harder and more costly for certain teams. Franchises closing in on the tax might now be reluctant to use all of the spending exceptions available to them. Small market teams in particular will have to think twice about paying the highly punitive tax. So much for a crippling tax creating parity and benefiting teams in smaller cities!
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Teams such as the Nets could emerge as big winners from the projection decrease. They have space and won’t really be competing for a high playoff seed any time soon. As teams scramble to either create cap space or dodge a luxury tax payment, we could see a slew of salary dumps and cost cutting trades. The Nets and a few other teams already had a great opportunity this summer to attain future assets from teams scrambling to unload bad salary. The cap decline will only increase the urgency of teams in unfavorable spots and raise the cost of shedding salary.