The NBA has "recalibrated its salary cap projections" for the '17-18 season and beyond, "resulting in a lower salary cap and luxury tax threshold" for '17-18 than projected in April, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY. A memo to NBA execs on Thursday shows that the salary cap and luxury line for '17-18 are projected at $102M and $122M, "down from the April projection" of $107M and $127M. It is "still an increase" compared to the '16-17 cap and tax numbers. However, it means teams "will have a little less to spend on rosters and max salaries will be a little less." It is "possible those numbers are recalculated" if there is a new CBA in place by the start of the '17-18 season. The league is also projecting a $200M shortfall for '16-17, and that money "will be distributed to players following the season on a rate determined" by the NBPA. The shortfall for the '14-15 season was "distributed to player based on amount of games a player was on the active or inactive roster." The shortfall for the '15-16 season is approximately $130M (USATODAY.com, 7/7).
COULD IT IMPACT WARRIORS? In DC, Tim Bontemps writes it "may not seem like a big deal to have the salary cap rise" an additional $8M from this coming season’s record cap of $94.1M, but the $6M "difference from a projection that preceded this history NBA offseason could have massive implications" for the Warriors' ability to keep their core together after officially introducing Kevin Durant on Thursday (WASHINGTON POST, 7/8). But ESPN's Marc Stein said after talking to people including Warriors co-Owner Joe Lacob, he does not "sense a great deal of concern among the Warriors because it’s just a projection that’s a year away." Stein: "As we’ve seen with these things, that cap number moves. The Warriors playoff gates are so ridiculously higher than anywhere else around the league. The Warriors were actually a big reason the cap jumped (higher)” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 7/7). ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said any potential lockout following the '16-17 season would not be about preventing “super teams” like the Warriors, as work stoppages are "always over money." A potential lockout would be due to the "structure of the contract,” and the league could “put some new rules in” the CBA to prevent teams like the Warriors. Windhorst said of the Warriors, “They may win the next three titles, but they’re going to not only have to beat their opponent, they’re going to have to beat the other owners who are going to try to legislate them out” (“The Jump,” ESPN2, 7/7).
STRAIGHT CASH: In DC, Kevin Blackistone writes under the header, "During Absurd NBA Spending Spree, At Least The Workers, Not The CEOs, Cashed In." The recent free agent spending by teams "was the kind of market correction in pay needed for most workers and the CEOs for whom they toil." Somewhere "under its arena’s seat cushions, the NBA over the past week found enough coins to pay more commensurately the human capital that gives it imprimatur to thrive." The NBA "got headed in the right direction the past week," and the "rest of the country should start catching up" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/8).
