Can incentives be built into a contract? How do they count against the cap?

There are three types of allowable incentives: performance incentives, academic/physical achievement incentives, and extra promotional incentives. The latter two types of incentives are always included in team salary. Performance incentives are classified as either "likely to be achieved" or "not likely to be achieved," and are only included in team salary if they are "likely to be achieved." The league office determines what is likely and what is not. Their guideline is whether the criterion was achieved in the previous season. For example, if a player had seven assists per game the previous season, then an incentive based on seven assists per game would probably be classified as "likely to be achieved," but an incentive based on eight assists per game would probably be classified as "not likely to be achieved." Unlikely bonuses in any season are limited to 25% of the player's salary in that season. In the first year of a contract the base salary, likely bonuses and unlikely bonuses ...  more