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@article{186024,
        author = {Aarush Rajendra Jain},
        title = {Salary Caps vs. Superteams: Does the NBA Salary Cap Promote Competitive Balance?},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {5},
        pages = {3887-3895},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=186024},
        abstract = {The study discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the current NBA salary cap and luxury tax model, particularly regarding competitive balance and "superteams." A mixed-method approach was applied to investigate the relationship between team payroll, win percentages, playoff appearances, and championships using data from the 2015–2025 seasons. The findings suggest that the teams with the highest payrolls the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Los Angeles Lakers have been consistently successful, which yields the conclusion that high payroll and luxury taxes are directly tied to championship status. Competitive balance, however, typically suffered from cap loopholes and player empowerment movements, which allowed for the overwhelming clustering of elite players, although smaller-market teams did succeed on occasion. Some of the reform options tested in hypothetical models were successful in achieving the results of reduced concentration of championships, including the application of a stricter salary cap, higher luxury tax, and redistribution of revenue. Existing research suggests that the NBA model inhibits monopolization but fails to eventually incentivize equity, thus changes to NBA policies will be dire in maintaining competitive balance in the long-term.},
        keywords = {NBA salary cap, luxury tax, superteams, competitive balance, payroll disparities},
        month = {October},
        }