Nine-Figure Deals Everywhere! Five Megastars!

"This year's salary cap is—$35.5 million!"

When the league announced the news, the world erupted!

A $35.5 million salary cap!

Up from $26.9 million last year, an increase of nearly thirty percent!

It was insane! That increase was absolutely insane!

What did that mean?

It meant player salaries could rise by thirty percent as well!

The previous average max salary of $20 million had jumped straight to $26 million! It was closing in on Michael Jordan's unprecedented $30 million contract under the league exception.

Nine-figure contracts were no longer reserved for privileged players alone!

At present, the NBA only had five nine-figure contracts: O'Neal's seven-year, $122 million deal; Kemp's seven-year, $107 million deal; Larry Johnson's twelve-year, $110 million deal; Alonzo Mourning's seven-year, $105 million deal; and Juwan Howard's seven-year, $105 million deal!

Five nine-figure contracts!

Of course, some players became dead weight after signing massive long-term deals.

After all, once Black players had money, it was hard to say how much drive and motivation they could maintain.

Not everyone was like Kobe or Jordan, forever hungry for victory!

A whole lot of player contracts were expiring this year, and their new deals would be so outrageous that they would draw the world's attention!

A quality role player might earn over $10 million a year!

Top-tier superstars, meanwhile, would easily land nine-figure contracts.

Every team now had ample cap space, with one-third more money available to bring in new talent!

A new era had truly arrived.

This news immediately kicked off the free-agent market as well.

The twenty-day Mamba Academy came to an end. When Kobe gathered everyone together and prepared to dismiss them—

Little Fish charged up to Garnett with a newspaper in hand!!!

"Kevin!!! You're getting a nine-figure contract!!!"

The players at Mamba Academy were all stunned by the