RealGM

There's a new headline about the Knicks potentially losing out on Carmelo due to tax laws. He could be more inclined to go to Houston since Texas has no state income tax. They mention the Florida teams and their lack of a state income tax as well. I knew about Florida, but I wasn't aware Texas fell into this category as well.

One of the things that I think the new collective bargaining agreement should try to address is attempting to limit some of the recruiting mismatch that exists throughout the league. There's always talk on the trade boards about how player X will never want to go to city Y to play basketball. Obviously, there are destinations that are more metropolitan and therefore more likely to be attractive to the young, wealthy men that make up the NBA talent pool. But, I wonder if there are changes that could be made to the CBA that could help to level the playing field.

I think the particular example I noted here (disparity in state income taxes) can be taken care of. I would propose that player income taxes be handled through the league. The league holds back salaries and then pays then averages the total income tax across the league and spreads those payments across all players as a percentage of their pay. I'm guessing it would get much more complicated than that, but the goal is to reduce any tax incentive from playing in a particular locale.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for steps the league can take to help maintain competitive balance?

If you want to break it down here it is. Yes the Pacers are by all acounts not attractive via the weather however, if you want to use JUST the taxes alone. The Pacers actually would be the 8th best franchise in the entire league.

The states with NBA teams have no income taxes laws:

Florida -- Heat and Magic
Tennessee -- Grizzlies
Texas -- Spurs, Rockets, and Mavericks.

Then you got states with a fixed federal income tax (in order from least on up):

Illinois -- Bulls
Pennsylvania -- Sixers
Indiana -- Pacers
Michigan -- Pistons
Colorado -- Nuggets
Utah -- Jazz
Massachusetts -- Celtics

So yeah, many things play a factor, like the warmth of sunny florida to big city and bright lights of New York or Los Angeles. But don't sell Indiana short. Past all the hype and hoopla, we are an excellent B or C free agent town, plus we are loyal and take care of our own.