On the eve of the draft, general managers across the league have been sent scrambling for their calculators.
NBA front offices have been told the salary cap will be set at approximately $99 million for the upcoming season, a league source told MassLive.com's Jay King.
As of April, the 2017-18 salary cap was expected to be set closer to $101 million, which was already lower than an October projection of $102 million.
Additionally, the luxury tax threshold has also dropped from a projected $121 million to $119 million, notes ESPN's Brian Windhorst.
Because the salary cap is directly tied to the amount of basketball-related income generated by the league, those with an in-depth knowledge of the collective bargaining agreement reason that the relatively short postseason slate led to the shortfall in expected revenue. In particular, the Golden State Warriors had a truncated run to the title, playing just 17 of a possible 28 games.
Many teams have spent years carefully curating enough space on the books to sign a free agent to a maximum contract this summer. Those organizations that left little margin for error may be experiencing buyer's remorse.
With $2 million less salary to work with than what was originally expected, it wouldn't be a shock to see general managers swap contracts with low cap holds in order to maintain their ability to offer the highest possible contracts in July's free agent bonanza.
So, in a roundabout way, the Warriors' postseason dominance has effectively made it harder for their competitors to keep pace in the superteam arms race.
