NBA teams will have less spending room this summer than initially expected.
The league notified teams on Thursday that the 2020-21 salary cap is projected to be $115 million, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports. That figure is shy of the initial projection of $116 million, but still higher than the 2019-20 cap of $109.1 million.
The figure is ultimately just an estimate; the official salary cap will be determined in June.
Some believe the reported drop is due to lower than expected revenue from China. The country pulled sponsorships and coverage of the league in October following Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters. Morey's tweet is believed to have cost the NBA between $150 million and $200 million in revenue, sources told ESPN's Bobby Marks and Wojnarowski.
It was reported in October that some teams were preparing for a dip in salary cap following the backlash, with an expectation that the projection could fall 10-15%. A 15% decrease would have set the 2020-21 salary cap at $98.6 million.
