Gear up for wild NBA free agency in the future.
NBA officials reportedly project that the league salary cap could reach over $100 million for the 2017-18 season, sources told ESPN's Marc Stein.
The salary cap is expected to rise from the current $63.1 million to $67.1 million next season, and continue increasing to $89 million in 2016-17, finally hitting $108 million in 2017-18. This may make players hesitant to sign longer deals, opting to wait to see how much money they may garner in the future.
The large increases are prompted by the nine-year, $24-billion television deal that the NBA has signed with ESPN and TNT that will pour a large amount of money into the league starting in the 2016-17 season.
NBA teams were reportedly informed of the salary cap projections and the projected jumps in the luxury tax, which will increase from $76.8 million currently to $81.6 million next season, $108 million in 2016-17 and $127 million in 2017-18.
Sources told ESPN that the NBA has stressed the numbers hinge on the league and its teams avoiding work stoppages after the 2016-17 season, since both sides can opt out of the current labor agreement by Dec. 15, 2016.
The NBA Players Association rejected a salary cap smoothing process that would have prevented the large spike in salary levels for free agents that will occur as a result of the TV money.
