The NBA salary cap soared to historic heights this offseason, leading to players receiving insane contracts. The league has seen an increase in popularity over the past five years, which has lead to a spike in revenue at almost $1 billion. Add that to the new $24 billion TV contract, and the NBA salary cap swelled from $70 million to $94 million. The cap increase led to owners dealing out monster contracts of the likes we've never seen to free agents.
The Los Angeles Lakers signed backup center Timofey Mozgov to the tune of $64 million over four years.
Dwyane Wade was pried away from the Miami Heat by the Chicago Bulls with a $47 million, two-year offer. The Heat have given their rising star center Hassan Whiteside a four-year, $98 million contract.
The Memphis Grizzlies were a part of the big spenders this offseason, bringing back Mike Conley with a huge five-year, $153 million contract, while also signing Chandler Parsons to a four-year, $94 million max deal.
But the real winner in this monster NBA free agency is the state of California, and not just because the Golden State Warriors signed Kevin Durant to a two-year, $54 million contract.
California comes out on top of all of this crazy spending because they are home to four NBA franchises: the Lakers, Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Sacramento Kings. Those four teams combined to spend $430 million dollars in contracts this offseason, and the state of California will directly take out $57 million in income taxes on those massive deals.
On top of that, there is the “duty day” tax that is taken out from all of the other players who will come through California to play against the four teams that the Golden state hosts. This tax comes out of an athlete's earnings and is given to each state based on the number of days that athlete competes and trains within that state compared to the days they compete and train elsewhere. California will then receive an additional $50 million in taxes from the nonresidential players who come through and compete against their native teams. Overall, California will profit over $100 million dollars in state income tax from this historic NBA free agency.
With large amounts of money being given away from all over the NBA, California seems to be sitting pretty at the top with some of the more lucky players to score huge contracts this offseason.
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