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So we know that an owner/team can not arrange for outside compensation to a player.

Can a player make that arrangement?

Could Lebron James, through Springhill Entertainment, offer a player a movie deal to incentivize him taking a below market contract? Springhill needs talent to produce content, why not pay $10 million for Paul George to be the next Victor Cruz?

Or Sprite or Nike or Beats ‘n


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Anything that is found to be a circumvention of the CBA is punishable to the team. In your example, say James and George are playing for the Lakers and agree to something that is found to be circumventing the CBA, the Lakers can be punished.

Proving it is the tricky part.

Smitty731 wrote:Anything that is found to be a circumvention of the CBA is punishable to the team. In your example, say James and George are playing for the Lakers and agree to something that is found to be circumventing the CBA, the Lakers can be punished.

Proving it is the tricky part.

Drawing a comparison to tampering:

In 2010 the NBA said that the Heat organization was not culpable for Dwyane Wade tampering with Lebron James and Chris Bosh during the Beijing Olympics while both were under contract.

When they fined the Lakers for tampering, they spelled out that “teams” are prohibited from interfering with contractual relationships. Cuban in 2015, Jackson in 2014, the Hawks and Kong’s in 2013 all involved teams not players. I can’t find an instance where the team was responsible for the conduct of the player.

Then drawing comparison to money spent or gifts given to teammates.

The league has not weighed in on players who make payments on behalf of other players. In 2017, Lebron paid $6000 worth of fines for Dahntay Jones. That was an amount equal to 2/3 of his salary.

Or gifts like John Wall spending $600k on rolexes for his teammates or Shaq buying Lebron a $400k car. In December 2017 Serge Ibaka jokes with DeMar DeRozan that he’s going to go play for the Wizards so Wall will buy him a watch. It’s long been tradition for veterans to spend on the younger players.

These weren’t with the expressed intent of getting players to stay or join a team. But they do benefit franchises by creating positive team culture and fringe benefits.

Or to arranging outside work:

When Lebron returned to Cleveland in 2014, he arranged for Harris, Marion, Irving, Waiters, Varejao, Thompson and Delly to get paid by Nike to appear in a commercial.


The CBA circumvention section reads as a list of restrictions on teams. I’m thinking this will make an interesting Paper/Continuing legal education class.


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Tampering and circumvention are not the same. So the limits are different, as well as who is being restricted.

"The CBA circumvention section reads as a list of restrictions on teams." ...This is absolutely not true. Acts that are circumvention of the salary cap are prohibited from EVERYONE who is in the NBA, including players, managers, coaches, teams, and on and on. The penalty would come down on the team it was done for, of course, but that's because such acts are being done to allow a team to skirt the spending limits.

The CBA says with emphasis added

Neither the Players Association, the NBA, nor any Team (or Team Affiliate) or player (or person or entity acting with authority on behalf of such player), shall enter into any agreement, including, without limitation, any Player Contract (including any Renegotiation, Extension, or amendment of a Player Contract), or undertake any action or transaction, including, without limitation, the assignment or termination of a Player Contract, which is, or which includes any term that is, designed to serve the purpose of defeating or circumventing the intention of the parties as reflected by all of the provisions of this Agreement.

It even extends to acts of advertisers and sponsors:

It shall constitute a violation of Section 1(a) above for a Team (or Team Affiliate) to enter into an agreement or understanding with any sponsor or business partner or third-party under which such sponsor, business partner or third-party pays or agrees to pay ...

It doesn't even take a smoking gun, but instead just logical conclusion that player must be getting compensated on the side somehow.

... may be proven by direct or circumstantial evidence, including, but not limited to, evidence that a Player Contract or any term or provision thereof cannot rationally be explained in the absence of conduct violative of Section2(a)or2(b).

Reminds me of when after CP and Blake held DeAndre Jordan hostage from Mark Cuban and then DJ starred as a cross dresser on State Farm commercials.