<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The NBA's projection for the 2017-18 season has fallen from $107 million to $102 million, filing story shortly at <a href="https://twitter.com/BBallInsiders">@BBallInsiders</a></p>— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricPincus/status/751065633517735937">July 7, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Spoiler <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In a new projection sent to teams today, league projecting salary cap next year to be $102M, lower than previous $108M projection.</p>— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN/status/751068966227881984">July 7, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">League telling teams it expects to have a $200M shortfall to pay players next year. Payment this year was $130M.</p>— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN/status/751069200693596160">July 7, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Reason for drop: NBA now projects players to receive just $200M less in salaries and benefits for 2016-17 than their fair share. Was $375M.</p>— Albert Nahmad (@AlbertRandom1) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlbertRandom1/status/751070343771594752">July 7, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Difference in shortfall projection creates $5.8M decrease in 2017-18 cap. So... This isn't caused by revenue drop, but by rise in salaries.</p>— Albert Nahmad (@AlbertRandom1) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlbertRandom1/status/751070926129795072">July 7, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The $102M salary cap figure for 2017-18 still shouldn't be relied upon. Still a possible lockout in between. Cap could rise (or fall) again!</p>— Albert Nahmad (@AlbertRandom1) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlbertRandom1/status/751071503328894976">July 7, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It won't, unfortunately, since the max is tied to the cap value. The cap will drop, but so will the max salary the Warriors need to pay Durant out of cap space. (It'll also drop the max they need to pay Curry, but they don't need cap space for that, so it doesn't matter so much.)
