Was this the expected number?

[jeddelong]

Free agents to benefit from cap increase

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ESPN.com

The NBA salary cap will jump from $40.5 million to $43.8 million for the 2003-2004 season, ESPN's David Aldridge reports, a financial bonanza for signed veteran players and free agents.

For example, Jermaine O'Neal, who re-signed with the Indiana Pacers for $122 million, now goes to $126 million. And Nets star Jason Kidd's salary jumps $4 million to $103 million. The mid-level exception for veteran players such as Gary Payton rises to $4.91 million.

The new figure also aids teams like Miami and Utah, which lost big-name stars to free agency but will now have significant cap room to sign players.

Players received almost 65 percent of basketball-related income before they gave 10 percent of their salaries as a result of the escrow tax. After the escrow tax payments, the players received 59.5 percent of basketball related income.

[Traceman]

That $3.3 million increase should make resigning JT easier because now, we can resign him (to a reasonable deal) and not go over the so called "cliff theshold" provision of the CBA.

If my calculations are correct, and I'm pretty sure they're close, we could sign JT to a 7 yr/$57.75 million deal (starting at $6 million), still sign a player to the vet minimum and not go over the "cliff threshold (I am estimating that the cliff threshold is going to be around $58 million based on the fact that it was $54.5 million last year)."

For info on the cliff threshold and how it works, go to the Larry Coon FAQ link at RealGM.com.