4:48pm: Five teams wound up as luxury taxpayers for 2013/14, according to a league memo that Hoops Rumors has obtained. The Nets pay a record amount of $90,570,781 in taxes, followed by the Knicks at $36,346,885, the Heat at $14,427,562, the Lakers at $8,960,265 and the Clippers at $1,325,316. The Early Bird amount is $5.632MM, the memo also states, so players with Early Bird rights can re-sign for a starting salary of up to that amount or 175% of their previous salary, whichever is greater.
4:36pm: Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has the maximum salary figures (via Twitter): For players with six or fewer years of service, the max is $14.746MM, so that’s what Hayward will receive next season. For those with seven to nine years, it’s $17.6952MM. Players with 10 or more years can receive up to $20.6444MM, meaning that’s the max for James and Bosh. The max that Hayward is getting is also the max for John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, both of whom signed max extensions last fall.
4:15pm: The NBA has set the salary cap for the 2014/15 season at $63.065MM and the luxury tax line at $76.829MM, the league announced (Twitter link via USA Today’s Adi Joseph). That means the luxury tax apron, an amount $4MM above the tax line that teams that trigger hard caps cannot cross, will be $80.829MM. The numbers go into effect at 11:01 Central time tonight, when the July moratorium ends.
Those figures are slightly less than the projections of $63.2MM and $77MM, respectively, that Salary Cap FAQ author Larry Coon unearthed from a league memo this spring. They nonetheless represent increases of more than 7% from the $58.679MM salary cap and $71.748MM luxury tax for 2013/14.
The minimum team salary will be $56.759MM, the league’s release states, and while some teams may have trouble meeting that figure, the penalty for failing to do so is minimal. Clubs would have to distribute the difference between their team salary and the minimum team salary among the players on their roster if they don’t meet the mark by season’s end.
The league’s maximum salaries, of keen interest to LeBron James, Chris Bosh and particularly Gordon Hayward, who’s already agreed to a max offer sheet, remain unannounced. The same is true for the league’s average salary, which applies to players with Early Bird rights.