YogiStewart wrote:kmatrixg wrote:YogiStewart wrote:well, this is pretty much an early hint as to what the NBA will be like in the upcoming seasons.
that new tax is going to be harsh...but not harsh enough to dissuade the Lakers and Mavs and Knicks of the world to stay under the tax threshold.
you may see even less parity than you currently see.
We'll see one of two things:
- Mid-level teams like Memphis who have talent, but not the market to support a team (ie. Boston, LA, Dallas), trading away their talent and scraping at the walls trying to make ends meet. This will effectively tear down Tier 2 and turn the NBA into Tier 1/x/Tier 3. Sounds like America.
- Give small market teams like Cleveland the opportunity to compete by buying low on player X, that Tier 2 teams cannot afford. However, once their birds are up and they need a new contract, repeat statement above.
In all reality, If you don't have an owner that's willing to pay 10 million in taxes, you're not competing at the same level for more than 4 years.
but it's not $10 mil in taxes. first, we assume that a team would be $10-20 million above the luxury tax level.Tax levels from 2013–14
Amount over tax threshold Standard tax Repeat offender tax
$5 million or less $1.50 $2.50
$5 million to $10 million $1.75 $2.75
$10 million to $15 million $2.50 $3.50
$15 million to $25 million $3.25 $4.25
that is hefty. and it means that teams may be more likely to get 1 year rent-a-stars to win a title and then trade away assets the following year to prevent a "repeat offender" tax.
what really needs to change - and won't for non-sexy markets like Toronto - is what players are worth. Max money players should be superstars. then you have stars, sub stars and very good players. Rudy Gay should not be getting Lebron money - he is 1-2 tiers lower. same with Pao Gasol and Randolph.
Yeah, I didn't fact check or anything, just threw that figure out there. Looking at it, it's going to create a huge rift between small market teams and large markets - something I'm sure David Stern knew full well when he and his staff created this double edge sword. Hopefully we see new ownership around the league, guys that are able to pay this kind of tax to win trophies. If not, we'll be watching an MLB league in a few years.
Also, with your little hierarchy you pointed out - is DeMar worth half of what LeBron is making?
