Salary Cap, Tax Line Set For 2021/22 NBA Season

While it flew under the radar amidst a flurry of contract agreements during the first few hours of 2021’s free agent period, the NBA has officially set the salary cap for its 2021/22 season. As expected, the cap increased by right around 3% on last season’s $109,140,000 figure. Here are the details, courtesy of a league press release:

  • Salary cap: $112,414,000
  • Luxury tax line: $136,606,000
  • Salary floor: $101,173,000
  • Non-taxpayer mid-level exception: $9,536,000
  • Taxpayer mid-level exception: $5,890,000
  • Room exception: $4,910,000
  • Maximum salaries:
    • 6 years or fewer: $28,103,500
    • 7-9 years: $33,724,200
    • 10+ years: $39,344,900
  • Early Bird exception: $10,384,500
  • Estimated average salary: $10,335,000
  • Tax apron: $143,002,000

The tax apron for the 2021/22 league year will be the hard cap for any team that acquires a player via sign-and-trade, signs a player using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, or signs a player using a bi-annual exception.

[RELATED: Maximum Salaries For 2021/22]

[RELATED: Minimum Salaries For 2021/22]

[RELATED: Values Of 2021/22 Mid-Level, Bi-Annual Exceptions]

While the 2021/22 figures are essentially what we expected, the NBA has adjusted its 2022/23 projections and is now forecasting a $119MM cap and a $145MM tax line, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The most recent projections for ’22/23, from last November, were a $115.7MM cap and a $140MM tax line, so that’s a significant increase and suggests that the NBA’s revenue projections are more positive than initially anticipated.

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