NBA Salary Cap Remains Same as Teams Begin Signing Free Agents

The National Basketball Association kept the salary cap for teams at $58.04 million for the next season as the moratorium was lifted at midnight to allow clubs to sign free agents.

The tax level also was unchanged at $70.31 million, meaning that a team must pay $1 in tax for every $1 its salaries exceed that figure.

The minimum team salary, which is set at 85 percent of the salary cap, is $49.34 million for the 2012-13 season.

The teams were given the go-ahead to begin signing players to contracts at 12:01 a.m. today. If a free agent signs with another team, his home team is given three days to make an offer.

The collective bargaining agreement provides for three different mid-level exceptions for signing players depending on a team’s salary level.

If a team is over the cap and under the tax level, it can use the non-taxpayer mid-level exemption of $5 million. If it exceeds the tax limit, the team can use the taxpayer mid-level exemption of $3.09 million. The mid-level exemption for a team with room under the salary cap is $2.58 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net