SB Nation - The NBA has informed teams the 2017-18 team salary cap will be set at $99 million, lower than the previously forecast $101 million, according to multiple reports. David Aldridge first reported the news.
The cap jump still represents a 5 percent increase over the 2016-17 level, set at $94 million. But given that two years ago the NBA had forecast the cap would rise to $108 million by this coming season, seeing it just shy of $100 million is a relative surprise.
The salary cap governs how much teams can spend on their payroll before contract exceptions come into play. Individual player maximum salaries, the luxury tax threshold, and other items are also based on salary cap.
This is major news for teams that have been hovering around the cap limit (Boston, Utah, Toronto, among many others) while trying to maximize talent to compete. It impacts contenders, teams who need to re-sign players to max deals, and teams who already have a ton of talent and need guys to share the money.
It also impacts players. Max contracts are built by percentage amounts of total cap. It is a small fractional amount, but still probably close to half a million dollars for guys. That's not nothing.
These are the little things you need to pay attention to in order to understand the NBA Draft, because you can see plans and strategies more clearly. Boston moved down from pick 1 to pick 3 tonight, and some are saying that was to clear $1.5 million of guaranteed contract space by picking two spots lower. That gets them closer to, what they thought, affording a max contract this summer when was going to be the cap limit of $101 million. Now, this changes things.