The NBA has released another update to the projected salary cap for next season, informing teams that it’s now projecting a $122MM salary cap and a $149MM luxury tax line for 2022/23, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
On February 4, the league informed teams of a projected $121MM salary cap and a $147MM lux tax line, so both figures have increased slightly over the past seven-plus weeks.
The cap projections for 2022/23 have been steadily on the rise over the last year-and-a-half. During the 2020 offseason, the NBA estimated a $115.7MM cap and a $140MM tax line for ’22/23. In August 2021, the league increased those estimates to $119MM and $145MM.
The latest increased projections likely won’t have a significant impact on teams’ plans during free agency this summer, but teams that project to have cap room can plan on having a little more space than they originally anticipated, while clubs that will be at or above the tax line can expect a small amount of relief.
The NBA’s salary cap for the 2021/22 season is $112,414,000, with a tax threshold of $136,606,000. If the cap for next season comes in at $122MM, as projected, it would be an increase of $9.6MM on this season’s figure — that would be the biggest single-year bump since 2016, when the cap spiked to $94.1MM from $70MM.
Just goes to show… money is all they care about. For the love of the game…
Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous
Not at all. It reflects the popularity of the game.
I’d probably even make the case to be made that NBA superstars are actually underpaid. If there were no max contracts there would be guys making $100+ per year!
Proof that the NBA is doing better than ever!