NBA’s salary cap to drop by $2 million to $99 million
By Duncan Smith
The NBA announced late Wednesday that the salary cap will come in $2 million lower than projected and will be $99 million for 2017-18.
In the stream of NBA news flooding in this week, a late Wednesday night announcement from the NBA may have the biggest impact on the Detroit Pistons going forward.
NBA Salary Cap For 17-18 Drops From One-Time Projection Of $108M All The Way Down To $99M: https://t.co/QCNaWbuBgf
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 22, 2017
The most recent projections for the cap came in around $101 million, meaning that the likely final cap number will drop $2 million from the last projection and $9 million from the earliest projections. The short NBA playoffs, which were littered with sweeps and short series, had a devastating impact on the cap.
The NBA lost significant revenue from the short playoffs, which had a multiplier impact on the projected salary cap.
— Albert Nahmad (@AlbertNahmad) June 22, 2017
This impacts teams with borderline max slots and who were planning on using significant cap space in free agency, but it will also impact the Pistons. While the Detroit Pistons weren’t going to have the opportunity to use cap space, this will push them closer to the luxury tax. The tax threshold will now be $119 million for the coming season and the tax apron (essentially the hard cap) will be $125 million.
Currently without Aron Baynes, Reggie Bullock and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s cap holds, the Pistons are already $6.5 million over the cap at $105.5 million. The Pistons may end up renouncing Baynes and Bullock’s cap holds, but KCP will be getting a big pay bump, meaning that anything over $13.5 million in this first season will put the Pistons into the tax.
As I described when I broke down the Pistons’ salary situation, they can also waive Darrun Hilliard before July 1st, thereby owing him none of his unguaranteed contract, and Michael Gbinije by July 15th, owing him only $500,000. However, this only saves them about $2.3 million and leaves them with only 10 players on the roster. Mind you, when the Pistons sign their draft pick, he’ll make almost $2.8 million, essentially gobbling up all of those savings.
Next: Locked On Pistons - Lakers and Nets trade cost KCP?
The Pistons were already bumping up against the luxury tax before this news came down, but barring a surprise move they’re almost sure to be over that threshold. They have until the end of 2017-18 to get out of the tax if they so choose before any penalties kick in, but this isn’t good news for the Detroit Pistons organization.