| 08 July 2009
Well, maybe we should take a look at this report from ESPN.com:
In a memo announcing next season's salary cap and luxury-tax threshold, sent out shortly before the league's annual July moratorium on signings and trades was lifted at 12:01 a.m. ET Wednesday, NBA teams also received tentative projections from the league warning that the cap is estimated to drop to somewhere between $50.4 million and $53.6 million for the 2010-11 season.
The official league memorandum, obtained by ESPN.com, forecasts a dip in basketball-related income in the 2009-10 season of 2.5 percent to 5 percent, which threatens to take the 2010-11 cap down some $5 million to $8 million from last season's $58.7 million salary cap.
A significant drop for the luxury-tax threshold is also projected going into the summer of 2010. If basketball-related income drops by 2.5 percent in 2009-10, league officials are projecting a 2010-11 salary cap of $53.6 million and a luxury-tax line of $65 million.
You may officially panic, small market teams and fans.
If the salary cap drops to around $53 million and the luxury tax to $65 million, there could be some serious problems for the teams that are teetering on the cliff of financial okay-edness and plunging into M.C. Hammer's Failed Millionaires Anonymous group. Currently, this would mean that seven teams heading into the 2010-2011 season would be in danger of hitting the luxury tax with Indiana and New Orleans the most likely to be devastated by this development.
Indiana and New Orleans have been bleeding money like they're playing a game with the Jigsaw Killer. They're in pretty rough shape financially do to the poor economy and would either need to gut their team from financial responsibilities (For the Hornets: Tyson Chandler...Chris Paul...?), which could lead to a big decrease in attendance and revenue from that. They're also in danger of a bigger luxury tax payment with money they don't have.
Not only that but it could pretty much kill cap space for nearly every team around the league. New York might not be able to afford LeBron James. Chicago might not be able to woo Dwyane Wade back to his hometown. Detroit might not be able to keep contructing whatever the hell they're confoundingly constructing. Kwame Brown might not get to sign with the WNBA team of his choice. The potential restraints are endless!
Obviously, this is a bit of an overreaction because we don't know for sure where this cap is actually going to land until next summer. If you want to help out your team and the state of the league, I'd contact your friends and put together a group for a season-ticket package. This league needs you!
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