The Vertical Front-Office Insider Bobby Marks, a 20-year executive with the Nets, analyzes how the market and teams dictate the max-salary slot. With the salary cap set to rise to $92 million this summer, the term max contract has been used loosely to describe the value of a certain level of player. For 2016-17, a max salary is projected to start at $21.3 million for a player with zero to six years of service, $25.5 million for a player with seven to nine years of service and $30.2 million for a player with 10-plus years of service.