As the best in the NBA world take on one another in an attempt to oust the Golden State Warriors as champions, nearly half the league is already preparing for what promises to be one of the craziest summers in recent Association history.
With the likes of LeBron James, Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins slated to become free agents, there’s going to be a whole lot of cash thrown around.
According to this one report, the NBA’s projected $101 million cap for the 2018-19 season remains unchanged. This means it’s more than likely teams will have that $101 million figure once free agency starts. Of similar importance, the luxury tax threshold is expected to be $123 million.
In a memo to teams, the NBA has NOT changed it's preseason salary cap projection, it remains at $101 mil for 2018-19 and 108 mil for 2019-20. Tax at $123 mil and $131 mil, respectively. Typically, there's variance in the pre/post projection but not this year
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) April 16, 2018
Looking at the defending champs first, Golden State has Kevin Durant slated to become a free agent. He’s likely to opt out of the two-year deal the reigning NBA Finals MVP signed last summer. If that happens, the Warriors will be about $1.5 million over the cap. Re-signing Durant to a max deal would then push the team to north of $10 million over the luxury tax threshold. That’s a whole lot of cash for this team’s ownership group to pay out given that Golden State is already going to be in its fourth consecutive season of luxury tax penalties.
Remaining in California, the Los Angeles Lakers made moves to get even further under the cap during February’s trade deadline. Based on Monday’s projections, Los Angeles will have north of $64 million to work with.
We can down the line to come up with explanations for what this means to teams around the NBA. But the Philadelphia 76ers might be the most intriguing. Already an elite-level young team, Philadelphia is currently riding a 17-game winning streak heading into Monday’s Game 2 affair with the Miami Heat. If these projections hold true, Philly would have enough cash to add the above-mentioned LeBron James on a max contract.