With Wednesday’s flurry of long-term contracts, fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers now have a clearer picture of what the team will look like during the 2015-16 season. As many hoped, it will look very much like the team that finished last regular season on a 33-3 tear, thanks in no small part to Dan Gilbert’s spending. We’ve seen the reported figures for Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and Iman Shumpert. But, what is the true price of all of these moves? How will it affect the team’s tax bill in this season and beyond? I’ve built a nifty little GIF on Twitter that helps to explain the tax consequences for this season with any further roster moves. I’ll attempt to add even more context behind what it all means here and how it affects the future. As a reminder, the projected 2015-16 NBA salary cap is $67.1 million. There have been some reports of it being perhaps $2 million higher than that, but $67.1 mil is the figure I’m using for these calculations. Obviously, things would shift all over just a wee bit if the cap was a bit larger.1 Based on that cap, the tax line is projected to be $81.6 million and the all-important “apron” would be $85.6 million. For those new to NBA salary cap discussions: The league typically does not have a traditional “hard cap,” as do some other sports leagues. NBA teams can pay up to whatever amounts they’d like — legally under the CBA, of course — to retain and sign players. However, if they surpass that season’s tax line, they’re forced to pay back a very progressive luxury tax. That tax payment goes back into revenue sharing and league operations. - See more at: http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2015/07/cleveland-cavaliers-nba-luxury-tax-record/
