NBA Salary Cap Projection For 2022/23 Increases

12:41pm: According to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link), the new projections for 2022/23 are as follows:

• Salary cap: $123,655,000
• Luxury tax: $150,267,000
• Tax apron: $156,983,000
  • Note: This would be the hard cap for teams that acquire a player via sign-and-trade, use the bi-annual exception, or use more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception.

The NBA will officially finalize the cap and tax numbers before free agency opens on Thursday evening.

12:05pm: The NBA’s salary cap projection for the 2022/23 season, which has been $122MM for months, has received a slight bump, according to reports from Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report and Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter links).

Both Fischer and Bontemps suggest that the cap could come in at $123.6MM rather than $122MM. That would represent roughly a 10% increase over the $112,414,000 cap that applied to the 2021/22 season.

While a $1.6MM difference from the previous projection may not seem like a significant change, it’ll have an impact on players and teams around the league, especially since the projected luxury tax line and tax apron will increase along with the cap. Clubs that anticipated being be right around the tax will have a bit more breathing room, while those below the cap will have slightly more spending power.

It’s good news for players who have signed maximum-salary contracts that go into effect in 2022/23 or who are eligible for max deals as free agents. For instance, a potential five-year maximum-salary contract for Bradley Beal would be worth $250.9MM instead of $247.7MM; a five-year max deal for Zach LaVine would come in at a little over $215MM instead of $212.3MM.

The projections for minimum salaries, mid-level and bi-annual exceptions, and rookie scale salaries would also rise if the cap does.