The NBA is about to sign a media rights deal so large that the amount should only be read in Dr. Evil’s voice: 76 billion dollars.
Roughly half that money is going to the players based on the revenue split dictated in the collective bargaining agreement, which means salaries will skyrocket. Beginning with the 2025-26 season, the expectation is the salary cap will increase annually by the maximum allowable 10%.
By the end of the decade, the cap should exceed $200 million. Not long after that, annual salaries easily could exceed $100 million as part of $600 million contracts.
We’ve come a long way from the Nets using the amnesty clause on Travis Outlaw in 2012 because his $7 million was too prohibitive.
