According to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the NBA has released future salary cap information to the league’s 30 teams.
The league informed the teams that the cap is projected to be $116 million for 2020-21, and rise to $125 million in 2021-22. That would put the tax level at $141 and $151 million, respectively.
The NBA has informed teams of currently projected salary cap and tax level in 2020-21 ($116M/$141M) and 2021-22 ($125M/$151M), sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. It is $1M lower for '20-21 and unchanged for '21-22 based on previous projections.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 16, 2019
As Charania notes, these numbers are pretty much in line with prior projections, so this doesn’t really change much.
It does provide a little insight into the Golden State Warriors financial situation going forward. General Manager Bob Myers certainly has a lot of toys to play with, but fiscal flexibility is not one of them. And Co-Chairman Joe Lacob will likely be cutting some fairly large tax payments.
All-Stars Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and D’Angelo Russell are all on max contracts that will take them through those projected seasons. Those four will combine to make more than $129 million in 2020-21, and more than $137 million in 2021-22, meaning the Warriors will be comfortably over the cap in both years, barring any trades.
In other words, get ready for big luxury tax numbers, and more rosters like the current one, filled out with rookie scale contracts and veteran minimums.