League to teams: Significant salary-cap jumps loom
At this week's NBA Board of Governors meetings in New York, teams were advised that the league's salary cap could rise past the $100 million mark as soon as the 2017-18 season, according to league sources.
Sources told ESPN.com that based on current projections, league officials expect the salary cap to increase from its current $63.1 million figure to $67.1 million next season, $89 million in 2016-17 and $108 million in 2017-18. The jumps represent massive increases triggered largely by the influx of television money that will begin pouring in after the 2015-16 season, when the NBA's new nine-year, $24 billion TV deal kicks in.
To put it into perspective, the largest salary-cap jump in history is $7 million in one season.
Sources say the league, though, has been careful to stress to its teams that these are not mere projections but are also contingent on the NBA and its players avoiding a work stoppage after the 2016-17 season. Both sides have the right to opt out of the current labor agreement by Dec. 15, 2016.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12711616/teams-told-nba-salary-cap-hit-100m-2017-18-season