NBPA rejects NBA's salary cap smoothing increases

The NBA's salary cap is likely to explode for the 2016-17 season after the National Basketball Players' Association rejected the league's latest smoothing offer.

With the league set to receive an influx of revenue after striking a nine-year, $24-billion deal with ESPN and TNT that's set to kick in for the start of 2016-17 season, the two sides attempted to reach an agreement on how best to distribute the overflow of cash.

NBPA executive director Michelle Roberts previously announced the players rejected offers from the league that would gradually increase the cap and put more money into the hands of all those represented by the union. It was the league's way of smoothing the increases that are set to come without limiting overall payment to players, but the NBPA wasn't interested.

The Players Association rejected the league's latest offer, according to NBA executive vice president of communications Mike Bass, who released the following statement Wednesday:

The National Basketball Players Association has informed the NBA that it will not agree to 'smoothing' in the increases in the salary cap that will result from new national media agreements beginning in the 2016-17 season. 

Smoothing would have avoided a substantial salary cap spike in 2016-17. Under the league's smoothing approach, the salary shortfall resulting from more gradual cap increases would have been paid directly to the Players Association to all players, and thus the total compensation paid to players in any given season would not have been impacted.

Simply put, players eligible for free agency for the 2016 summer are set to cash in, especially the superstars of the league in line for max contracts, such as reigning MVP Kevin Durant and LeBron James, the two headliners of the class. There's an incentive for upcoming free agents to sign smaller deals and accept qualifying offers in attempt to capitalize on the boon, too, as the total pool of money in the summer of 2016 will be significant.

James, the NBPA vice president, declined to comment on the matter but said he supported Roberts' stance, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

The NBA salary cap is currently $63.1 million and the luxury tax sits at $76.8 million. Those figures are expected to rise marginally next season - recent estimates have the cap sitting between $66-67 million - before the league's new TV deal kicks into effect in 2016, sending the cap near an estimated $90-million mark.

It would be the largest salary-cap jump in league history, potentially tripling the previous high-water mark, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. The owners aren't in favor of that scenario, significantly increasing the likelihood of a lockout in 2017 when both sides can opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement, Windhorst said.

Teams will be able to offer more money than ever before with the cap rising as much $20-30 million compared to next season, and forward-thinking teams may keep their books lean to maximize that opportunity.