Regardless of what the cap is, the players are still guaranteed 50% of HRR. If they get overpaid, they lose their escrow money (which we know they hate). If they get underpaid, they get a bonus at the end of the season (which, I assume, they would love).
For the players, the problem is that if you signed a multiyear deal, not only does its value decrease relative to the other players in the league every time the cap goes up, but if the cap is going up at a rate that causes escrow to significantly rise as well, the actual take-home portion of a player's salary goes down every year as well.
By limiting the amount the cap can rise, a player on a long-term contract doesn't see his relative value drop so much over the term of his contract, and if league revenue increases at a rate that outpaces the rise in the cap, that player is able to actually reap some of those rewards by getting a bonus at the end of the year (or at least reduced escrow payments -- which still means more money in his pocket).
It doesn't make sense to let the cap increase by $5 million because that's what the formula says, if everyone knows that $4 million of that increase is basically going to go straight to escrow.
If the cap goes up to a level where a player can sign for an extra $1 million per year, but it also causes escrow to rise significantly, that player's extra $1 million isn't coming from his team's increased revenue, it's essentially being paid by his teammates.
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Also, the limitation of the increase to the cap is only in place until the owners are made good through the escrow payback plan. Once the escrow balance is zero, the cap can start to increase by larger amounts again.
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