A salary cap is a limit on the amount teams can spend on player contracts, which helps to maintain competitive balance in the league. Without a salary cap, teams with deeper pockets could simply outspend the remaining teams for the better free agents. The basic idea behind a salary cap is that a team can only sign a free agent if its total payroll will not exceed the cap -- so a team with deep pockets is on a more level playing field with every other team.
While this is true in theory, NBA teams in big markets nevertheless have been able to significantly outspend teams in small markets. For example, for the 2016-17 season (the final season under the previous CBA) the lowest team payroll was approximately $80.5 million1 and the highest was over $127.5 million (plus an additional $27.3 million in luxury tax).
As a result, there is now a weak to moderate correlation between team payroll and regular season wins. For the 2016-17 NBA season the correlation coefficient2 was about 0.35. It was much stronger in the past -- for example, in 2010-11 (the last season under the 2005 CBA) the correlation coefficient was 0.53, indicating that deep-pocket teams were able, to a certain extent, to buy their way to success.
Interestingly, this correlation was only 0.13 (nearly orthogonal) in the 2001-02 NBA season. One possible explanation for this variation is the changes in the league's luxury tax and revenue sharing systems over time.
The NBA has a soft cap. A hard cap cannot be exceeded for any reason. A soft cap like the NBA's contains exceptions which allow teams to sign players or make trades that exceed the cap under certain conditions. In practice, few NBA teams are under the cap during a season.
Certain components of the NBA's system function as a hard cap under specific circumstances. See question number 20 for more information.
A soft cap promotes a team's ability to retain its own players. Nobody likes it when a player plays with one team his entire career, the fans love him, he wants to stay and the team wants to keep him, but he has to leave because the team cannot offer him a satisfactory contract. The exceptions under a soft cap allow teams to keep players under these kinds of circumstances. In addition, they allow teams to make a limited number of changes (replacing department players, improvements, etc.) every year.
It's the legal contract between the league and the players association that sets up the rules by which the league operates. (It's commonly abbreviated as "CBA," which is not to be confused with either the Chinese Basketball Association or the Continental Basketball Association. The abbreviation CBA will be used in the remainder of this document.)
The CBA defines the salary cap, the procedures for determining how it is set, the minimum and maximum salaries, the rules for trades, the procedures for the NBA draft, and hundreds of other things that need to be defined in order for a league like the NBA to function.
The CBA also prevents the NBA from being in violation of federal antitrust laws. Many of the league's practices (such as the salary cap and draft) would violate antitrust laws were they not agreed to via collective bargaining
It may surprise you to learn that the NBA first had a salary cap in 1946-47, its first season. The cap that season was $55,000, with most players earning between $4,000 and $5,000. Star player Joe Fulks earned $8,000, and Tom King earned a league-highest $16,500 for his combined duties as player, publicity director and business manager for the Detroit Falcons.
The "modern" NBA salary cap began in 1984-85, at $3.6 million. It made steady but gradual increases of around $1-2 million each season until 1994-95, when it was $15.964 million. Armed with a big TV contract from NBC, the salary cap jumped to $23.0 million in 1995-96, and increased to $26.9 million in 1997-98, the last season of the 1995 CBA (a 647% increase in 13 years). The ABC/ESPN TV contract, which took effect with the 2002-03 season, provided $4.6 billion over six years, but less in 2002-03 than NBC paid in 2001-02. As a result, the salary cap went down for the first time ever in 2002-03.
Under the 2005 CBA the salary cap started at $49.5 million, and finished at $58.044 million, a 17.26% increase, and averaging 3.45% per year. However the salary cap decreased in 2009-10, dropping from $58.68 million to $57.5 million. Under the 2011 CBA the salary cap started at $58.044 million and finished at $94.143, a 62.19% increase. This was driven largely by the new national TV deals that took effect in 2016.
Bob Cousy began to organize the NBA players in 1954, although the league refused to recognize the union until 1957. A near strike at the 1964 All-Star game forced the league to adopt a pension plan. The first CBA was established in 1970, and new agreements followed in 1973, 1976 and 1980. The 1976 CBA coincided with the settlement of the "Oscar Robertson" suit, which was filed by the players association in 1970 to block the NBA-ABA merger. The 1976 agreement also provided limited free agency through the elimination of "option" clauses that bound players to teams in perpetuity.
The CBA defines the salary cap, the procedures for determining how it is set, the minimum and maximum salaries, the rules for trades, the procedures for the NBA draft, and hundreds of other things that need to be defined in order for a league like the NBA to function.
The CBA also prevents the NBA from being in violation of federal antitrust laws. Many of the league's practices (such as the salary cap and draft) would violate antitrust laws were they not agreed to via collective bargaining
It may surprise you to learn that the NBA first had a salary cap in 1946-47, its first season. The cap that season was $55,000, with most players earning between $4,000 and $5,000. Star player Joe Fulks earned $8,000, and Tom King earned a league-highest $16,500 for his combined duties as player, publicity director and business manager for the Detroit Falcons.
The "modern" NBA salary cap began in 1984-85, at $3.6 million. It made steady but gradual increases of around $1-2 million each season until 1994-95, when it was $15.964 million. Armed with a big TV contract from NBC, the salary cap jumped to $23.0 million in 1995-96, and increased to $26.9 million in 1997-98, the last season of the 1995 CBA (a 647% increase in 13 years). The ABC/ESPN TV contract, which took effect with the 2002-03 season, provided $4.6 billion over six years, but less in 2002-03 than NBC paid in 2001-02. As a result, the salary cap went down for the first time ever in 2002-03.
Under the 2005 CBA the salary cap started at $49.5 million, and finished at $58.044 million, a 17.26% increase, and averaging 3.45% per year. However the salary cap decreased in 2009-10, dropping from $58.68 million to $57.5 million. Under the 2011 CBA the salary cap started at $58.044 million and finished at $94.143, a 62.19% increase. This was driven largely by the new national TV deals that took effect in 2016.
Bob Cousy began to organize the NBA players in 1954, although the league refused to recognize the union until 1957. A near strike at the 1964 All-Star game forced the league to adopt a pension plan. The first CBA was established in 1970, and new agreements followed in 1973, 1976 and 1980. The 1976 CBA coincided with the settlement of the "Oscar Robertson" suit, which was filed by the players association in 1970 to block the NBA-ABA merger. The 1976 agreement also provided limited free agency through the elimination of "option" clauses that bound players to teams in perpetuity.
With the 1983 CBA the parties agreed to share league revenues. This agreement also instituted the modern salary cap, which went into effect in 1984. When this agreement expired the players filed an antitrust lawsuit, resulting in the "Bridgeman" agreement which brought unrestricted free agency, reduced the draft to two rounds, and added anti-collusion provisions.
Another antitrust lawsuit ensued in 1994 following the expiration of the 1988 CBA, challenging the salary cap, college draft, and right of first refusal provisions. The parties eventually reached a "no-strike, no-lockout" agreement that allowed the 1994-95 season to be played.
The parties came to terms on a new agreement in 1995, but the players tabled a ratification vote and instead filed for union decertification. The league responded by imposing a lockout. The parties quickly came to an agreement, and the players subsequently voted against decertification. A new six-year agreement was ratified which lifted the lockout before any games were missed, although the agreement was not actually signed until 1996.
The NBA exercised its option to terminate the 1995 CBA following the 1997-98 season, eventually imposing a lockout which took effect on July 1, 1998 and resulted in the cancellation of the start of the 1998-99 season and the 1999 All-Star weekend. The parties reached agreement on a new six-year agreement in early 1999, just in time to salvage a minimal 50-game season. The new agreement introduced maximum salaries, the Mid-Level exception, and the escrow and luxury tax systems. The league invoked its option to extend this agreement through the 2004-05 season.
The NBA and players association ratified a new agreement in July 2005, which expired at the end of the 2010-11 season. The league had the option to extend it through the 2011-12 season, but elected not to do so, citing $300 million in losses during the 2010-11 season alone.
When the 2005 CBA expired in July 2011, the league once again imposed a lockout (see question number 7), which was settled in late November 2011. As a result, the 2011-12 season was reduced to 66 games. The 2011 CBA had a 10-year term, but a mutual opt-out after the 2016-17 season. The sides agreed to terms for a new CBA before the opt-out date, which took effect on July 1, 2017.
Sunday was quite a day: There was Adrian Beltre's 3,000th hit; Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown for Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez (plus John Schuerholz and Bud Selig); trades and trade rumors; and a full slate of games, including one doubleheader.
On the heels of Monday's trade deadline, however, my big takeaway from the day's action is this: Do the Houston Astros need a starting pitcher?
All-Star Lance McCullers Jr. had his fourth straight poor start in a 13-1 loss to the Tigers, lasting five-plus innings and allowing eight hits, four walks, two wild pitches, two hit batters and five runs. It was ugly. Really, he was lucky to have given up only the five runs with that many baserunners crowding the bases. He has a 9.64 ERA in those four July starts, including 32 hits and 11 walks in 18⅔ innings pitched. His strikeout rate of 29.1 percent entering the month has plummeted to 15 percent and batters have hammered him for a .386 average.
Here's what the Astros have to decide between now and 4 p.m. ET on Monday: Is this just a little slump for McCullers, something he'll resolve over the next two months? Is it a simple tempo rary loss of fastball command? Or is it a sign of a young pitcher hitting the wall at 100 innings after throwing ju st 81 last year? To make that decision even more probl ematic, staff ace Dallas Keuchel just returned from a le ngthy DL stint and pitched three shaky innings in his fi rst start back.
Even with Mike Fiers pitching so well after a shaky star t -- he has a 2.74 ERA over his past 13 starts -- gene ral manager Jeff Luhnow has to be concerned about hi s rotation, since he doesn't know for sure what to exp ect from his one-two punch the rest of the season and in the postseason. The starters had a 3.49 ERA in A pril and May, but that has jumped to 4.75 in June and July.
I think fear of the unknown means Luhnow makes a deal for a starter. He doesn't have to play in the Sonny Gray game, since the A's are likely to demand outfield prospect Kyle Tucker, but he could opt for a rental such as Yu Darvish or Lance Lynn to provide a strong alt ernative for October. Besides Tucker, the Astros had three other p rospects in Keith Law's midseason top 50, plus there's hard-throw ing Francis Martes, now in the majors but a top-40 prospect enterin g the season. There's enough talent for the Astros to make a trad e and keep the talent pipeline flowing. What deal will Luhnow make?
Kyle Farmer will always remember his first at-bat. This is the kind of season the Dodgers are having. They trail the Giants 1-0 in th e bottom of the ninth. They tie it up, with help from Chase Utley' s stolen base. The Giants take the lead in the 11th. Up steps pin ch-hitter Farmer for his major league debut, with runners on first and second and one out in the bottom of the 11th, and he lines a double off the chalk in right field for the walk-off hit.
Farmer received a curtain call as the Dodgers, who are a mind-blowing 39-6 in their past 45 games, celebrated their eighth win in a row as they impr oved to 74-31. This epic run has them on pace fo r 114 wins, which would shatter the National Lea gue record in the 162-game era. No matter who manager Dave Roberts inserts in the lineup, some thing special happens.
Farmer is a great story, a senior drafted out of G eorgia in 2013 who turns 27 in a couple of week s. At Double-A Tulsa and then Triple-A Oklahom a City, he played catcher and third base (and ev en started two games at shortstop), hitting .32 6 with nine home runs between the two stops. He's the kind of organizational depth that winni ng teams have sitting down in the minors, and he provided Dodger fans with another memora ble moment in this season of magic.
Your pitcher of the month is James Paxton. The Mari ners are hanging on the fringes of the AL wild-card race of late, primarily due to Big Maple, their Cana dian lefty who is quietly having a dominant seaso n. The Mariners rank 23rd in the majors in runs pe r game in July, but with six shutout innings on Sun day in a 9-1 victory over the Mets, Paxton finished July 6-0 with a 1.37 ERA, the first pitcher to go 6- 0 in a month with a sub-1.50 ERA since the late Jo se Fernandez last May, and the first to do it in July since Steve Carlton in 1972. That was the season t he Hall of Fame lefty went 27-10 on a Phillies team that finished 59-97.
Paxton is now 11-3 with a 2.68 ERA, including 125 strikeouts in 107⅓ innings and just five home run s allowed. If he hadn't missed nearly a month with a forearm strain, he might be right behind Chris S ale in the Cy Young race. He even has that sub-3. 00 ERA despite posting a 7.20 ERA in June. Paxton has seven starts with zero runs allowed, tied wit h Alex Wood and Ervin Santana for most in the majors.
The Mariners have needed Paxton to do this, not just because of all the injuries to the rotation, but because the big three of Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager haven't been as good as in 2016. Cano, in p articular, has really struggled of late and is hitting jus t .211 in July. He's on pace for 57 extra-base hits aft er drilling 74 last season. Seager's OPS is down 80 p oints even as offense has increased across the leagu e. Cruz does lead the American League in RBIs, altho ugh his slugging percentage is down 59 points.
Last year, those three accounted for 18.9 WAR via B aseball-Reference.com. This season, entering Sunda y, they had combined for 5.6 WAR through 105 gam es -- a pace of 8.6 over 162 games. That the Marine rs are .500 with the injuries and decline from those three is actually a testament to the deeper roster ge neral manager Jerry Dipoto has built. It also the Mariners' best chances of reaching that wild-car d game isn't making a trade on Monday, but Cano, Cruz and Seager playing better the final two month s -- especially considering their brutal August sched ule that includes a 12-game road trip to Tampa, Atl anta, New York and Baltimore.
So Steve Pearce did this. and it was awesome. Two walk-off grand slams in one week? Are you kidding?
A couple of weeks ago, his former locker-room foe -- Brandon Marshall -- took a swipe at the New York Jets, essentially saying they have n o chance to win in 2017. That, he said, is why he requested his release. So on Sunday, afte r the Jets' second practice, Richardson was as ked about Marshall's comments.
inRead invented by Teads "Who? Who? I haven't heard that name in a while," he said, smiling. "I don't care what that guy says."
Normally, the unfiltered Richardson would've fired back at Marshall, with whom he feuded last season. This time, he exercised restraint, although he made it clear he can't wait to f ace him in the preseason.
"Definitely," said Richardson, not letting a rep orter finish the question about whether he' s looking forward to the Aug. 26 matchup ag ainst the New York Giants.
Wouldn't it be delicious if they let Richardson line up at cornerback for a play, giving him a chance to jam Marshall at the line of scrimmage?
"Maybe a little outside linebacker, but that's a bout it," he said with a smile, knowing it woul d get him close to Marshall.
Richardson and Marshall have a history -- bad history. They nearly came to blows after a We ek 3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and their re
lationship deteriorated from there. In May, Ric hardson said the locker room is a better place this season, explaining there are "15 reasons" why it's better -- a not-so-veiled reference to Marshall's number.
As the games move to Texas, we’re starting to get a real clear picture of what the playoffs are going to like. Trilogy clinched the first playoff berth in the lea gue’s history while 3 Headed Monsters and Power could officially join them with wins in Dallas. The G host Ballers are sitting in postseason purgatory wit h a 3-2 record and a meeting with the nearly unst oppable Trilogy.
No matchups are particularly interesting, but it mig ht be time to start thinking about who is the first-e ver BIG3 MVP. After Rashad McCants dropped 27 in Trilogy’s fifth win of the season, he’s showing that he’s clearly the best player on the best team, but Rashard Lewis leading the league in scoring while playing a huge defensive role for the 3 Headed Mo nsters could make this an exciting race down the stretch.
It’s going to be hard to not give it to McCants if he continues to perform and Trilogy finishes . However, if Trilogy drops just a single game, the pendulum swings mightily into Sweet Lew’s favor as he has more points, blocks and steals than an
yone in the BIG3 right now. This race will be fun to watch down the stretch — and there’s a chanc e Cuttino Mobley or DeShawn Stevenson could st eal the award with huge performances in the fina l three weeks of the season.
A game between two of the league’s bot tom feeders leads off Week 6 in the B IG3, and suffice to say, this is a must-w in for both squads. The Killer 3s lost a d evastating game in Chicago, leading 40 -30 before the Ghost Ballers went on a 20-6 run to close out the game, giving the Killer 3s their fourth loss of the seas on. Stephen Jackson’s game-high 22 po ints just weren’t enough to put the Kill er 3s over the top, and now they’ll hav e to win out the rest of the season just to have a shot at the playoffs.
It was more of the same for the Ball Hog s, who after five weeks look like the leag ue’s worst team by a wide margin. After getting down early to Power, the Ball Hog s were able to tie the game at 20, but th e game was never close after that. The Hogs have a huge scoring problem. All of the teams over .500 have either three scorers in double figures or the league’s leading scorer. The Ball Hogs’ leading is Rasual Butler at an OK 15 points per g ame — and they just traded for him this week. With no one out there to get consis tent buckets, it’s going to be hard for the m to win any more games this season.
As the games move to Texas, we’re starting to get a real clear picture of what the playoffs are going to like. Trilogy clinched the first playoff berth in the lea gue’s history while 3 Headed Monsters and Power could officially join them with wins in Dallas. The G host Ballers are sitting in postseason purgatory wit h a 3-2 record and a meeting with the nearly unst oppable Trilogy.
No matchups are particularly interesting, but it mig ht be time to start thinking about who is the first-e ver BIG3 MVP. After Rashad McCants dropped 27 in Trilogy’s fifth win of the season, he’s showing that he’s clearly the best player on the best team, but Rashard Lewis leading the league in scoring while playing a huge defensive role for the 3 Headed Mo nsters could make this an exciting race down the stretch.
It’s going to be hard to not give it to McCants if he continues to perform and Trilogy finishes . However, if Trilogy drops just a single game, the pendulum swings mightily into Sweet Lew’s favor as he has more points, blocks and steals than an
yone in the BIG3 right now. This race will be fun to watch down the stretch — and there’s a chanc e Cuttino Mobley or DeShawn Stevenson could st eal the award with huge performances in the fina l three weeks of the season.
A game between two of the league’s bot tom feeders leads off Week 6 in the B IG3, and suffice to say, this is a must-w in for both squads. The Killer 3s lost a d evastating game in Chicago, leading 40 -30 before the Ghost Ballers went on a 20-6 run to close out the game, giving the Killer 3s their fourth loss of the seas on. Stephen Jackson’s game-high 22 po ints just weren’t enough to put the Kill er 3s over the top, and now they’ll hav e to win out the rest of the season just to have a shot at the playoffs.
It was more of the same for the Ball Hog s, who after five weeks look like the leag ue’s worst team by a wide margin. After getting down early to Power, the Ball Hog s were able to tie the game at 20, but th e game was never close after that. The Hogs have a huge scoring problem. All of the teams over .500 have either three scorers in double figures or the league’s leading scorer. The Ball Hogs’ leading is Rasual Butler at an OK 15 points per g ame — and they just traded for him this week. With no one out there to get consis tent buckets, it’s going to be hard for the m to win any more games this season.
As the games move to Texas, we’re starting to get a real clear picture of what the playoffs are going to like. Trilogy clinched the first playoff berth in the lea gue’s history while 3 Headed Monsters and Power could officially join them with wins in Dallas. The G host Ballers are sitting in postseason purgatory wit h a 3-2 record and a meeting with the nearly unst oppable Trilogy.
No matchups are particularly interesting, but it mig ht be time to start thinking about who is the first-e ver BIG3 MVP. After Rashad McCants dropped 27 in Trilogy’s fifth win of the season, he’s showing that he’s clearly the best player on the best team, but Rashard Lewis leading the league in scoring while playing a huge defensive role for the 3 Headed Mo nsters could make this an exciting race down the stretch.
It’s going to be hard to not give it to McCants if he continues to perform and Trilogy finishes . However, if Trilogy drops just a single game, the pendulum swings mightily into Sweet Lew’s favor as he has more points, blocks and steals than an
yone in the BIG3 right now. This race will be fun to watch down the stretch — and there’s a chanc e Cuttino Mobley or DeShawn Stevenson could st eal the award with huge performances in the fina l three weeks of the season.
A couple of weeks ago, his former locker-room foe -- Brandon Marshall -- took a swipe at the New York Jets, essentially saying they have n o chance to win in 2017. That, he said, is why he requested his release. So on Sunday, afte r the Jets' second practice, Richardson was as ked about Marshall's comments.
inRead invented by Teads "Who? Who? I haven't heard that name in a while," he said, smiling. "I don't care what that guy says."
Normally, the unfiltered Richardson would've fired back at Marshall, with whom he feuded last season. This time, he exercised restraint, although he made it clear he can't wait to f ace him in the preseason.
"Definitely," said Richardson, not letting a rep orter finish the question about whether he' s looking forward to the Aug. 26 matchup ag ainst the New York Giants.
Wouldn't it be delicious if they let Richardson line up at cornerback for a play, giving him a chance to jam Marshall at the line of scrimmage?
"Maybe a little outside linebacker, but that's a bout it," he said with a smile, knowing it woul d get him close to Marshall.
Richardson and Marshall have a history -- bad history. They nearly came to blows after a We ek 3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and their re
lationship deteriorated from there. In May, Ric hardson said the locker room is a better place this season, explaining there are "15 reasons" why it's better -- a not-so-veiled reference to Marshall's number.