NBA Salary Cap

[BangTheBook]

Lawyers for the league and the players' association had been working nearly around the clock for the past week counting revenues in order to calculate this year's salary cap. NBA teams received word late Tuesday on the new numbers.


The 2006-07 salary cap will be set at $53.135 million, an increase of $3.6 million from last season.

The luxury tax threshold will be $65.42 million, up $3.7 million from the $61.7 million threshold last season. Teams with payrolls over that will have to pay a dollar-for-dollar tax on the amount of their payroll that exceeds the $65 million.


The luxury tax threat seems to be working. As it stands right now, only one team, the Knicks, are way over the luxury tax threshold. The Knicks are projected to have a payroll of more than $109 million next year -- putting them more than $44 million over the tax threshold!


Two other teams, the Warriors and the Mavs, are projected to be just barely over. Every other team in the league is projected to be under the threshold barring more free-agent spending this summer.


With the new cap set, the NBA moratorium on free-agent signings and player movement will be lifted at 12.01 a.m. Wednesday. Free agents signing under the mid-level exception, which can offered by teams that are over the salary cap, can sign contracts beginning at $5.215 million annually.


Players like Yao Ming and Amare Stoudemire who signed max rookie extension contracts last summer found out what their starting numbers would be next season. Players with less than seven years of experience in the league can have a contract start at the maximum of $12.45 million this season.


Players with seven to nine years of experience can have a contract that starts at $14.94 million. For players with 10 or more years of experience, the max starting salary is $17.43 million.


The Hawks, Bobcats, Bulls, Clippers, Hornets, Raptors and Jazz are the only teams to have significant salary cap room this summer. For the most part it's all been spent.


• The Bulls spent most of their $17 million in cap room on free agent Ben Wallace, giving him a deal that starts at roughly $14 million per.


• The Clippers spent the majority of their $9 million in cap room re-signing Sam Cassell and signing free agent Tim Thomas.


• The Hornets spent their $17.5 million fortune on free agents Peja Stojakovic and Bobby Jackson.


• The Jazz used all of their $6.5 million in room to re-sign Matt Harpring.

Still, there's some money left to spend.


The Bobcats have been eerily quiet despite the fact that they have more cap room ($25 million) than any team in the league. The Bobcats will have to spend more than $12 million to get to the league minimum salary cap of $39.85 million.


The Hawks are expected to sign Speedy Claxton to a four-year contract but still have roughly $12 million in room if they don't do a sign-and-trade for Al Harrington.

The Raptors are expected to sign a couple Euroleague veterans: Spanish forward Jorge Garbajosa and American swingman Anthony Parker. But that should only take roughly $6 million of the $12.4 million they have under the cap.

[brs14ku]

The pacers will finally be in the under the cap discussions next year. We ditched Peja and Croshere, two fat contracts of players that I, and the Pacers wanted to get rid of. Peja is worthless, that man couldn't guard a couch.

[Smart Guy]

I like what the Jazz have done in the offseason.
+ add fisher
+ resign harpring
+ get rid of ostertag
+ draft ronnie brewer
.......so if kirilenko can stay healthy and deron williams and cj miles continue improving, look for the jazz to sneak back into the playoffs this year

[brs14ku]

Originally Posted by Smart Guy

I like what the Jazz have done in the offseason.
+ add fisher
+ resign harpring
+ get rid of ostertag
+ draft ronnie brewer
.......so if kirilenko can stay healthy and deron williams and cj miles continue improving, look for the jazz to sneak back into the playoffs this year

I wanted brewer bad at 17. then I wanted Marcus Williams...ho hum Shawne williams instead. He is going to be awful . Anyway, resigning Harpring was big for the Jazz and trading for fisher was a little....fishy?....why do they need another good PG. Williams, Palacio, and Mcleod did a great job platooning at PG last year IMO. They dealt Mcleod, Owens and Brown, three kids high on potential and perfect for Utah's style of play IMO, just to get Derek Fisher. Not that great of a move until you consider their draft picks and what they should be able to do for the Jazz next year. Overall it isn't to great of and offseason for the Jazz, but they are certainly moving in the right direction.

[Bobby O'Shea]

They needed a veteran back there, it won't matter they make they playoffs they will be one and done

[jtsneaks]

I follow the jazz quite closely (even when I don't want to) and I think they have had a brilliant offseason. The fisher move was one that was needed. Sloan is an old fashioned guy and he says he has changed his mind about playing rookies but the PG position was just too young. He needed someone who could handle the rock in crunch time. Williams is good but young. Fisher is in shape off one of his best seasons ever and can shoot the rock. The Jazz were killing for a small guy to make shots. AK and Okur were the deep threats??

This is a good move.

JT Sneaks