The NBA announced its salary cap for the 2022-23 season at $123,655,000. That’s the maximum 10 percent increase allowed over last year’s $112,414,000 cap, based on the agreement between the league and the National Basketball Players Association coming out of the pandemic. The luxury tax was set at $150,267,000 with the apron (or hard cap, when triggered) at $156,983,000.

The league is clearly rebounding well from two challenging seasons through the pandemic. Basketball-related income for 2021-22 was $8.892 billion. Salaries for players for 2021-22 totaled $4.09 billion (plus $280 million in benefits for a total of $4.37 million).

The salary cap will impact several important figures heading into the 2022 offseason:

YOS
 Maximum Salaries
0-6 $30,913,750
7-9 $37,096,500
10+ $43,279,250
YOS
 Minimum Salaries
0 $1,017,781
1 $1,637,966
2 $1,836,090
3 $1,902,133
4 $1,968,175
5 $2,133,278
6 $2,298,385
7 $2,463,490
8 $2,628,597
9 $2,641,682
10+ $2,905,851


Note: the NBA reimburses teams for the amount over the two YOS veteran minimum, provided the contract is a one-year minimum deal. In those cases, the player will count against the cap at the two YOS minimum, which would also be their outgoing salary in trade.

The following exceptions were also set:

Exception 2022-23
Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level $10,490,000
Taxpayer Mid-Level $6,479,000
Room Mid-Level $5,401,000
Bi-Annual $4,105,000
Early Bird $10,843,350


Teams below the salary cap will have access to just the Room Mid-Level Exception (RMLE). Those who do not drop under the salary cap but stay below the NBA’s hard cap (or apron) can use the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level (NTMLE) and Bi-Annual (BAE) Exceptions. Tax teams above the apron will only have the Taxpayer Mid-Level (TMLE). The estimated average player salary for 2022-23 is $10,792,000.

Rookie-scale contracts (for the top-30 draft picks in June) will earn a range based on the following schedule. The scale amount for the No. 1 pick (Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic), is $9,212,600 for the first year, though it’s nearly a standard for first-rounders to earn the maximum 120 percent of scale:

Pick 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 Proj. Qualifying Offer
1 $11,055,120 $11,608,080 $12,160,800 $15,334,769 $19,935,200
2 $9,891,240 $10,386,000 $10,880,640 $13,731,368 $17,919,435
3 $8,882,640 $9,326,520 $9,770,880 $12,350,392 $16,203,714
4 $8,008,440 $8,409,000 $8,809,560 $11,144,093 $14,699,059
5 $7,252,200 $7,614,480 $7,977,240 $10,107,163 $13,402,098
6 $6,586,800 $6,916,080 $7,245,720 $9,187,573 $12,256,222
7 $6,012,960 $6,313,800 $6,614,160 $8,399,983 $11,264,377
8 $5,508,600 $5,784,120 $6,059,520 $7,707,709 $10,389,992
9 $5,063,520 $5,316,960 $5,570,040 $7,096,231 $9,615,393
10 $4,810,320 $5,050,800 $5,291,160 $6,746,229 $9,188,364
11 $4,569,840 $4,798,440 $5,027,040 $6,770,882 $9,132,437
12 $4,341,480 $4,558,680 $4,775,760 $6,580,997 $9,055,452
13 $4,124,280 $4,330,680 $4,536,840 $6,483,144 $8,966,188
14 $3,918,360 $4,114,200 $4,310,280 $6,383,525 $8,879,483
15 $3,722,040 $3,908,160 $4,094,280 $6,276,531 $8,774,590
16 $3,536,180 $3,712,920 $3,889,920 $5,967,137 $8,383,827
17 $3,359,160 $3,527,160 $3,695,160 $5,675,766 $8,014,182
18 $3,191,400 $3,350,760 $3,510,480 $5,399,118 $7,661,348
19 $3,047,640 $3,199,920 $3,352,680 $5,163,127 $7,362,619
20 $2,925,600 $3,071,880 $3,217,920 $4,962,033 $7,110,593
21 $2,808,600 $2,949,120 $3,089,640 $4,921,797 $7,092,309
22 $2,696,400 $2,831,160 $2,965,920 $4,878,938 $7,064,702
23 $2,588,640 $2,718,240 $2,847,240 $4,831,766 $7,030,220
24 $2,420,400 $2,609,400 $2,733,720 $4,781,276 $6,990,226
25 $2,385,480 $2,504,640 $2,624,280 $4,726,328 $6,942,976
26 $2,306,520 $2,421,720 $2,537,040 $4,574,283 $6,751,642
27 $2,239,920 $2,352,000 $2,464,200 $4,445,417 $6,592,553
28 $2,226,000 $2,337,720 $2,448,840 $4,420,156 $6,586,032
29 $2,210,040 $2,320,440 $2,431,080 $4,388,099 $6,582,149
30 $2,193,960 $2,303,520 $2,413,560 $4,356,476 $6,534,714

Additionally, a franchise can send out as much as $6,363,000 from July 2022 to June 30, 2023. A team can also receive the same amount via trade, regardless of how much it sends out throughout the 2022-23 season.

Finally, the following teams paid luxury taxes for 2021-22

Team Tax
Golden State Warriors $170,331,194
Brooklyn Nets $97,711,261
Los Angeles Clippers $83,114,692
Milwaukee Bucks $52,037,160
Los Angeles Lakers $45,117,195
Utah Jazz $18,833,260
Philadelphia 76ers $13,876,624
Total $481,021,386

The 23 teams below the tax will receive $10,456,987 each while the league will get the remaining $240,510,693 to help fund revenue sharing for the 2021-22 season.