With the salary cap going up, several bigger free agents were expected to take short-term deals to re-enter the open market but most decided to take the security of a long-term contract.
"Security is seductive, and in that sense it was a win-win for players and teams," said Daryl Morey. "And now with fewer free agents on the board, it's just pushing up the money for next year."
Teams will have more than $20 million in additional cap space, yet fewer big name players to spend it on.
Smaller market teams will struggle to find the necessary revenues to keep up with the escalating cap even with the new national television deal kicking in. Franchises that count on revenue sharing from luxury tax payments will also receive lesser payments with the tax line increasing.