NBA sets new luxury tax number

The NBA's luxury-tax threshold for next season was set by the league Tuesday night, and the lower-than-projected figure — $69.92 million — isn't a good thing for the Jazz.

Any team whose player payroll at the end of next season exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it is over.

The Jazz's payroll for next season — not including unsigned restricted free agent Paul Millsap and a needed 13th player — is now, after further adjustment, estimated at $73,103,490.

That means — if they re-sign Millsap to a multi-year deal starting at around $6 million, and if they keep all of the players on their current roster — the Jazz would be looking at paying more than $9.5 million in punitive taxes.

Ways to reduce that number include making a trade — both power forward Carlos Boozer and small forward Andrei Kirilenko are known to be on the block — or breaking the franchise's vow to re-sign Millsap.

The NBA on Tuesday night also set its team payroll salary cap for next season at $57.7 million, which is down from $58.68 million last season.

Teams over the cap, including the Jazz, can only sign players from other teams via use of various exceptions, whereas teams under the cap can use their space to offer free agents more lucrative contracts.

One of those exceptions is the midlevel, which is a multiyear deal that will start next season at — as set Tuesday — $5,854,000.

Next season's luxury-tax threshold also is down from this past season's of $71.15 million.

Both numbers dipped even though leaguewide revenue increased 2.5 percent in the 2008-09 season, and that is because of the collectively bargained formulas used to calculate the cap and the threshold.

With the cap figure in, it's now believed that point guard Deron Williams — who agreed to a max-money rookie contract extension last offseason — will make $13,520,500 next season.

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com