Marc Stein reports on the two issues that were brought up three months ago and then quickly forgotten - that based on projections the salary cap is going to be at least $9.6M less than expected for ‘10-‘11 season, thus almost completely derailing the plans of teams like the Knicks, who wanted to try and sign two marquee free agents in order to bring a single one of them to town…and that since the salary cap is dropping so will max deals (since they’re based on a percentage of the cap), which means those guys who were going to opt out after this coming season have a decision to make - sign an extension now to capitalize on what the max is, not opt out after next season and hope that the cap goes back up in 2011, or stay the course and potentially lose more money in the future.
And now we wait and see…if LeBron wakes up in the morning and decides he’s going for an extension can he call Ariza before he gets on the plane to Houston?
*Edit: I may have misrepresented the max contract issue in regards to LeBron, based on what I’m reading from Henry Abbott who’s writing about a similar issue here:
“One of the biggest effects this could have will be on players who are soon to come off rookie deals hoping for max contracts. Think about someone like Brandon Roy. The maximum contract for veterans like LeBron James or Dwyane Wade is calculated as a percentage of his previous year’s salary — basically, they can get a 5% raise. So they’re largely unaffected. But Roy is still earning rookie scale, and is looking for much more than a 5% raise. His maximum is based on the league’s basketball-related income, which has gone down and could go down further.”
What I said, however, was based off of the following information:
“Maximum Individual Contracts under the CBA
The maximum amount of money a player can sign for is contingent on the number of years that player has played and the total of the salary cap. The maximum salary of a player with 6 or fewer years of experience is $9,000,000 or 25% of the total salary cap (2008-2009: $13,758,000). For a player with 7-9 years of experience, the maximum is $11,000,000 or 30% of the cap (2008-2009: $16,509,600), and for a player with 10+ years of experience, the maximum is $14,000,000 or 35% of the cap (2008-2009: $19,261,200).”
If anyone with more knowledge of the situation knows, please tell me…
