By Jordan Long
During NBA free agency, Kevin Durant agreed to a contract with the Golden State Warriors. The deal is two years worth $54.3 million and includes a player option after the first year. This gives the Warriors a super star team. Commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, spoke earlier this week at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. According to sportingnews.com, Silver said, “I don’t think it’s good for the league, just to be really clear. I will say whoever is the prohibitive favorite, try telling that to the 430 other players who aren’t on those two teams.”
I understand where Adam Silver is coming from. He doesn’t like the idea of one or two NBA teams with super stars while the rest of the league may not have any. This doesn’t create competitive balance in the NBA, which is what the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) was meant for. Increased competitive balance has not happened.
The biggest difficulty is the salary cap. The cap for this upcoming season went from $70 million to $94.143 million per team. Teams can also spend over the cap level without penalty. The current limit before being taxed is set at $113.287 million, meaning teams who spend over this limit must give a check to the NBA. This allows owners to essentially spend as much money as they please.
To fix this problem would be easy. The NBA needs a hard salary cap similar to the NFL and the NHL. The NBA would set a maximum amount for teams to spend. They can’t go over it. If teams do, they would need to figure out how to get back down. A hard limit might create an even more competitive basketball league. Every team would be able to sign a super star. The NBA would need to renegotiate the CBA for this to happen.
The current CBA was agreed to during the 2011 NBA lockout. The deal runs through June 30, 2021. Either side can opt out on June 30, 2017 if they inform the other side by December 15th. It would not surprise me if the NBA and the owners opt out of the contract with a lockout starting the 2017-2018 season. That way both the NBAPA (National Basketball League Players Association) and the NBA can sit down and relook at the CBA. The solution might be a harder cap to have a better NBA product.
What do you feel is the solution in the NBA?
Leave a Reply