NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA says the Players Association has informed the league that it won’t agree to smoothing in the increased revenues from the national TV deals, which will create a significant spike in the salary cap.
The league’s new contracts with ESPN and TNT begin in 2016-17 and will be worth more than $2.6 billion. Because the salary cap is tied to revenues, that will cause it to soar in the first season, giving many teams spending money they otherwise wouldn’t have.
To prevent that, the league has sought to set a cap figure that would lead to gradual increases, but executive vice president of communications Mike Bass says Wednesday the union rejected that approach.
NBPA executive director Michele Roberts said last month the union had turned down the league’s first smoothing proposal.