Salary Cap

The NBA issued a new salary cap projection for the 2023/24 season on Friday, increasing its estimate for next year’s cap to $134MM.

There are a number of salary figures directly connected to the cap, including the league-wide maximum and minimum salaries, the mid-level exception, and the bi-annual exception. Those figures increase or decrease each year by the same percentage the cap does.

The NBA’s new cap projection meant we had a series of ’23/24 projections of our own in need of updating. Here are the links to those updated numbers:

Maximum salary projections for 2023/24

These are the projected earnings for players who signed maximum salary extensions that will go into effect in 2023, including Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, Nikola Jokic, and Joel Embiid, among others. Jokic’s record-setting super-max extension, previously projected to be worth just shy of $270MM over five years, is now on track to be worth $272MM+.

Minimum salary projections for 2023/24

These are the minimum salaries that a player who signs a standard contract in 2023/24 will be eligible to earn. Next year’s rookie minimum is currently projected to exceed $1.1MM, while the minimum salary for a veteran with at least 10 years of NBA experience will surpass $3MM for the first time in league history.

Mid-level, bi-annual projections for 2023/24

These projections cover the various mid-level exceptions available to teams, including the full (non-taxpayer) mid-level exception, the taxpayer version of the MLE, and the “room” exception for teams that use cap space. A player who signs a four-year contract worth the full mid-level next summer would be in line to receive nearly $49MM over the life of the deal.

The bi-annual exception is also included in these projections — it projects to be worth a record $4,448,000 in ’23/24.

These projections can be found anytime on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features” or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu. They’ll be updated again later this season if the NBA issues another new cap projection.

With the NBA’s salary cap set at $123,655,000 for the 2022/23 league year, the rookie scale has been set as well. The rookie scale locks in the value of contracts for first-round picks.

In every NBA league year, rookie scale amounts are assigned to each first-round slot, from No. 1 through No. 30. Teams can sign their first-rounders to as little as 80% of that rookie scale amount, or up to 120% of that figure.

While that rule theoretically affords teams some flexibility, first-round picks virtually always sign contracts worth 120% of their rookie scale amount, and unsigned first-rounders have a cap hold worth 120% of their rookie scale amount.

Listed below are the salary figures that represent 120% of the rookie scale amounts for 2022’s first-round picks. If a first-round pick signs a rookie scale contract in 2022/23, it will be for the amount below unless he accepts a deal worth less than the maximum allowable 120%. If that happens, we’ll adjust their amounts below.

These salary figures will only apply if the player signs in 2022/23. If a player doesn’t sign an NBA contract this year, his rookie contract will look a little different in future seasons.

Rookie scale contracts are guaranteed for the first two years, with team options on the third and fourth years.

Here’s the 2022 breakdown, via Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom:

An NBA team that has spent all its cap space and doesn’t have any of its mid-level or bi-annual exception available still always has the ability to sign a player to a minimum-salary contract, unless that club is right up against its hard cap.

Teams with cap room or with access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception will have a little more flexibility to sign players to longer-term minimum-salary contracts. However, teams without cap room and without any other exceptions on hand can still use the minimum salary exception to add as many players as roster limits and the hard cap allow, for contracts of up to two years. Unlike other exceptions, such as the mid-level or the bi-annual, the minimum salary exception can be used multiple times.

[RELATED: Values of 2022/23 mid-level, bi-annual exceptions]

Undrafted free agents and second-round picks are often recipients of minimum-salary contracts, but there are plenty of veterans who end up settling for the minimum too. Because a player’s minimum salary is determined by how much NBA experience he has, many veterans will earn more than twice as much money as a rookie will in 2022/23 on a minimum-salary contract.

Listed below are 2022/23’s minimum salary figures, sorted by years of NBA experience. If a player spent any time on an NBA club’s active regular season roster in a given season, he earned one year of experience. So any player with zero years of experience has not yet made his NBA debut.

These figures represent a 10% increase on last season’s figures, since that’s the amount of the NBA’s salary cap increase for 2022/23.

Here’s the full breakdown:

Because the NBA doesn’t want teams to avoid signing veteran players in favor of cheaper, younger players, the league reimburses clubs who sign veterans with three or more years of experience to one-year, minimum-salary contracts. Those deals will only count against the cap – and against a team’s bank balance – for $1,836,090, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience.

For instance, DeAndre Jordan, who has 14 seasons of NBA experience, has signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Nuggets, who will only be charged $1,836,090 for Jordan’s contract. He’ll earn $2,905,851, but the NBA will make up the difference. This only applies to one-year contracts, rather than multiyear deals.

If a player signs a minimum-salary contract after the regular season begins, he’ll earn a prorated portion of the amount listed above.

Those figures listed above also only apply to players who are signing new contracts in 2022/23. Players who are in the second, third, or fourth year of a minimum-salary deal will be earning a slightly different predetermined amount.

For example, a player like Knicks guard Miles McBride – who signed a minimum-salary contract last offseason and now has one year of NBA experience – will earn a $1,563,518 salary in the second year of his contract, shy of the $1,637,966 he would receive if he were signing a new minimum deal this fall. That’s because his second-year salary is based on a 5% raise over last season’s minimum salary for a player with one year of experience, whereas the cap rose by 10%.

Here’s what multiyear minimum-salary contracts signed in 2022/23 will look like:

Technically, a minimum-salary contract could cover five years for a player with full Bird rights, but in actuality, that never happens. While some second-round picks and undrafted free agents will sign three- or four-year minimum-salary contracts, a minimum deal exceeding two years is rare for a player with more than a year or two of NBA experience under his belt.

Information from RealGM was used in the creation of this post.

Now that the NBA has set its salary cap for the 2022/23 league year at $123,655,000, we have a clear idea of what maximum-salary contracts will look like for the coming season.

Listed below are the maximum-salary contracts for players signing contracts that start in 2022/23.

The first chart shows the maximum salaries for a player re-signing with his own team — a player’s previous team can offer five years instead of four, and 8% annual raises instead of 5% raises. The second chart shows the maximum salaries for a player signing with a new team.

These figures will apply to a number of players who signed maximum-salary contract extensions that will go into effect in 2022/23: Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Michael Porter Jr. They’ll also apply to anyone who signs a maximum-salary contract as a free agent this offseason — Bradley Beal, for instance.

A player’s maximum salary is generally determined by his years of NBA experience, so there’s a wide gap between potential earnings for younger and older players.

In the charts below, the “6 years or less” column details the maximum contracts for players like Gilgeous-Alexander and Porter, as well as what a free agent like Deandre Ayton is eligible for; the “7-9 years” column applies to free agents like Zach LaVine and to players who qualified for a Rose Rule rookie scale extension, such as Doncic and Young; and the “10+ years” column applies to the league’s most experienced vets, including Beal, or those who qualified for the super-max.

Here are the maximum salary figures for 2022/23:

A player re-signing with his own team (8% annual raises, up to five years):

A player signing with a new team (5% annual raises, up to four years):

It’s worth noting that none of the maximum-salary figures listed above will apply to extension-eligible players whose new contracts will start in 2023/24.

This group includes players like Nikola Jokic and Ja Morant, who are on track to sign max extensions with the Nuggets and Grizzlies, respectively. It also includes players who signed maximum-salary extensions in previous years that will begin in ’23/24, including Joel Embiid.

The exact value of those players’ contracts will depend on where the cap lands for 2023/24. The NBA has announced that the cap for ’23/24 is projected to come in at $133MM, but there’s plenty of time for that estimate to fluctuate between now and next summer.

The salary cap for the 2022/23 NBA league year has officially been set, with the league announcing that the cap will be $123,655,000, a 10% increase on last year’s number.

Under the league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, the values of the mid-level, room, and bi-annual exceptions are tied to the percentage that the salary cap shifts in a given year. Because the cap figure for 2022/23 increased by 10%, the values of the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions will increase by the same amount.

Listed below are the maximum annual and total values of each of these exceptions, along with a brief explanation of how they work and which teams will have access to them.

Mid-Level Exception (Non-Taxpayer):

The non-taxpayer mid-level exception is the primary tool available for over-the-cap teams to add free agents. As long as a team hasn’t dipped below the cap to use cap space and doesn’t go over the tax apron ($156.98MM) at all, it can use this MLE, which runs for up to four years with 5% annual raises.

Mid-Level Exception (Taxpayer):

If an over-the-cap team currently projects to be a taxpayer or expects to move into tax territory later in the 2022/23 season, it will have access to this smaller mid-level exception for taxpaying teams.

If a team uses more than $6,479,000 of its mid-level exception, it is forbidden from surpassing the tax apron at any time during the league year. So even if a team isn’t above the apron when it uses its MLE, it might make sense to play it safe by avoiding using the full MLE and imposing a hard cap.

The taxpayer MLE can be used to sign a player for up to three years, with 5% annual raises.

Room Exception:

Although this is also a mid-level exception of sorts, it’s colloquially known as the “room” exception, since it’s only available to teams that go below the cap and use their cap room.

If a club goes under the cap, it loses its full mid-level exception, but gets this smaller room exception, which allows the team to go over the cap to sign a player once the team has used up all its cap space. It can be used to sign players for up to two years, with a 5% raise for the second season.

Bi-Annual Exception:

The bi-annual exception, as its name suggests, is only available to teams once every two years. Of the NBA’s 30 clubs, only two – the Mavericks and Bulls – used it in 2021/22, so they won’t have access to it in 2022/23. The league’s other 28 teams could theoretically use it this season.

Still, even if a team didn’t use its BAE in ’21/22, that club doesn’t necessarily have access to it for the coming year. As is the case with the non-taxpayer MLE, this exception disappears once a team goes under the cap to use room. It’s also not available to teams over the tax apron — using the BAE creates a hard cap at the apron.

The BAE can be used to sign players for up to two years, with a 5% raise after year one.

Note: Be sure to check out our Hoops Rumors Glossary for more information on the mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception.