Salary Cap Recap

This item really isn't a rule change rather just a heads up for those of you trying to make decisions on which players you'd like to keep heading into next season.

According to Wikipedia,

"The actual amount of the cap varies on a year-to-year basis, and is calculated as a percentage of the League's revenue from the previous season."

Here is a list of the cap figures from previous seasons (figures are rounded per league rules)

In 2000-2001 the cap was $36 million.
In 2001-02 it was $43 million
In 2002-03 it was $40 million
In 2003-04 it was $44 million
In 2004-05 it was $44 million
In 2005-06 it was $50 million
In 2006-07 it was $53 million
In 2007-08 it was $56 million
In 2008-09 it was $59 million
In 2009-10 it will be ????

According to this snippet I found in a Chris Sheridan article,

"Teams are cutting the bottom line, especially in light of the economy [and] the fact that the cap might stay flat this year and go down the following year, which means the luxury-tax number will go down, too. If you have escalating deals and a de-escalating tax, that's the trend you're going to see."

Just another bit of information to keep in mind as you consider any trades in the next month or so. The salary cap may not increase next year so plan accordingly.