NBA Rumors: Salary Cap Projected at $141M for 2024-25 Season; Up $5M from 2023-24

The NBA is projecting the 2024-25 salary cap to be $141 million, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

The cap was expected to be around $142 million last summer, but the new projection is still ahead of the $136 million ceiling for this year.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski provided more detail on the financial particulars:

The league and players union learned from the famous cap spike of 2016. That had a lot of unintended consequences, with the Golden State Warriors gaining the flexibility to sign Kevin Durant and a lot of teams handing out what proved to be bad contracts.

With the NBA heading toward a new media rights deal, many wondered whether a similar shock to the system was in store at some point.

The newest collective bargaining agreement addressed that question, stipulating the salary cap can't increase by more than 10 percent from year to year.

From the team side, front offices have an easier time building out a roster and knowing how much money might be available in the future. General managers will know there isn't a major windfall to come.

Players benefit as well even if cap smoothing means there's theoretically less money than there would be otherwise. Those who hit free agency in 2016 cashed out, but those who came after suffered because teams had little to no cap space moving forward.

History almost certainly would've repeated itself with another spike.

With max salaries now eclipsing $50 million, stars at the top end will be doing just fine with the more incremental increases to the cap.