According to Fred Katz of The Athletic, the NBA has told its teams that the projected salary cap for the 2027-28 season has increased by $2 million.Link to Twitter).
The maximum salary, which was projected at the level of 174 million dollars earlier this summeris now $176 million, and the luxury tax is $213 million, according to Katz. The $174 million figure represents an increase of 5.5% compared to 2026/27 capso the league expects revenues to grow a bit more.
The higher cap would result in a modest pay rise for players signed on maximum salary contracts that come into effect in 2027/28. For example, the projected cost Victor WembanyamaThe five-year extension of the maximum salary will increase from $252,300,000 to $255,200,000, while Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderThe four-year super-max deal will rise from a projected $272,832,000 to $275,968,000.
The projected value of the four-year, non-taxpayer mid-level exception deal will increase from $68,236,700 to $69,019,300.
In June, the NBA announced that the cap hit for the upcoming season would be $164,961,000, just below the projected $165 million. This number represents an increase of approximately 6.7% over last season’s cap of $154,647,000.
The league won’t officially set the cap for the 2027/28 season until the end of June 2027, so predictions could fluctuate until then. Still, the update is good news for teams that will be operating in tax and/or transfer territories or looking to expand their cap space next summer. With a potentially loaded free agent class everyone is expected to have a little more room to work with next summer.
