Would the NBA be better without guaranteed contracts?

Prince187 · Post #1 » by **Prince187** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 7:47 pm

I was reading an article highlighting the dysfunction of the Pelicans and it was shocking just how little Ingram and Zion cared about getting back on the court. Players these days are getting paid enough money in just one year that could last them, their kids, and possibly grandkids for the rest of their lives without ever having to work again.

You sign a 200 million dollar contract and that money is yours no matter what happens. There’s no other job like it. I don’t think you can expect most players to give full effort on the court and totally dedicate themselves to their craft(including things like watching their diet, staying in shape, partying, drugs/alcohol) when they have all that guaranteed money.

I think it hurts the quality of the game. We’ve already seen how the regular season has turned into a joke.

Big J · Post #2 » by **Big J** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 7:49 pm

Wallace_Wallace · Post #3 » by **Wallace_Wallace** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 7:56 pm

The players wouldn't allow it. However, it's reasonable to put clauses/performance incentives within the contracts.

xdrta+ · Post #4 » by **xdrta+** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:00 pm

You mean they would ban guaranteed contracts? Teams don't have to give out guaranteed contracts now.

payton2kemp · Post #5 » by **payton2kemp** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:08 pm

Prince187 wrote:I was reading an article highlighting the dysfunction of the Pelicans and it was shocking just how little Ingram and Zion cared about getting back on the court. Players these days are getting paid enough money in just one year that could last them, their kids, and possibly grandkids for the rest of their lives without ever having to work again.

You sign a 200 million dollar contract and that money is yours no matter what happens. There’s no other job like it. I don’t think you can expect most players to give full effort on the court and totally dedicate themselves to their craft(including things like watching their diet, staying in shape, partying, drugs/alcohol) when they have all that guaranteed money.

I think it hurts the quality of the game. We’ve already seen how the regular season has turned into a joke.

If this was ever put in place, and teams can end a contract whenever they want, then players should have the right to opt out each year if they want as well. Should go both ways.

CS707 · Post #6 » by **CS707** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:12 pm

Non-guaranteed contracts are usually still guaranteed for injury so it's unlikely to help much in the OP examples.

slos · Post #7 » by **slos** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:25 pm

I think it would be cool if every team had the right to get out of one contract per year. I guess the players still fight it, but it only affects close to 5% of all NBA players. It’s a reasonable amount.

Alatan · Post #8 » by **Alatan** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:25 pm

I agree that the league would be better without fully guaranteed contracts. Contracts should be constructed with the option for both the team and the player to void them. They should also be tied with the number of minutes played in a season, the playoff seed the team gets and how far the team goes in the playoffs. And not in the form of some minor bonuses. For example, a player that signs a max but fails to make the playoffs missed out on something like 50% of his potential earnings. The numbers could be tweaked to the optimal percentage. They should also include some guaranteed money in case of injuries. Fully guaranteed contracts should be banned.

That should spark some fire in the players that are having it too good right now.

xdrta+ · Post #9 » by **xdrta+** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:32 pm

Alatan wrote:I agree that the league would be better without fully guaranteed contracts. Contracts should be constructed with the option for both the team and the player to void them. They should also be tied with the number of minutes played in a season, the playoff seed the team gets and how far the team goes in the playoffs. And not in the form of some minor bonuses. For example, a player that signs a max but fails to make the playoffs missed out on something like 50% of his potential earnings. The numbers could be tweaked to the optimal percentage. They should also include some guaranteed money in case of injuries. Fully guaranteed contracts should be banned.

That should spark some fire in the players that are having it too good right now.

You're penalizing a player for a team's failures, which may have nothing to do with him. Maybe it's the GM's fault, or the coach's. Maybe they should be docked half their pay instead.

WillyJakkz · Post #10 » by **WillyJakkz** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:33 pm

Well when you think about it the NFL is the only major league I can think of with non guaranteed contracts (only signing money is guaranteed but I believe Deshaun Watson broke that mold).

But the point is maybe that's an underlying reason the NFL is still the King of All Sports, American at least.

MLB has guaranteed contracts and it's flailing in popularity etc and has been since the 00's, the NBA has famous players and have enjoyed a resurgence in ratings recently but have also fallen behind where they were.

Maybe it's contract related and the players working harder with their livelihoods on the line yr in and yr it'd probably be a more competitive representation.

Lots of players have it in them (like or hate him Draymond is a prime example of trying hard all the time just as much as Giannis, he's just not as gifted as Greek Freak). There's others too but you get my point I hope.

Prince187 · Post #11 » by **Prince187** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:51 pm

xdrta+ wrote:
Alatan wrote:I agree that the league would be better without fully guaranteed contracts. Contracts should be constructed with the option for both the team and the player to void them. They should also be tied with the number of minutes played in a season, the playoff seed the team gets and how far the team goes in the playoffs. And not in the form of some minor bonuses. For example, a player that signs a max but fails to make the playoffs missed out on something like 50% of his potential earnings. The numbers could be tweaked to the optimal percentage. They should also include some guaranteed money in case of injuries. Fully guaranteed contracts should be banned.

That should spark some fire in the players that are having it too good right now.

You're penalizing a player for a team's failures, which may have nothing to do with him. Maybe it's the GM's fault, or the coach's. Maybe they should be docked half their pay instead.

Even if that were the case, does it really matter if a guy who was supposed to make 40 million to play basketball for 1 year only got paid 20 million instead because the gm screwed up? Millions of working class people get fired every year because the companies they work for didn’t reach their financial targets or some stupid thing like that.

At the end of the day he still got paid truck loads of money and all the fans got to enjoy watching him play his absolute best

Alatan · Post #12 » by **Alatan** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:55 pm

xdrta+ wrote:
Alatan wrote:I agree that the league would be better without fully guaranteed contracts. Contracts should be constructed with the option for both the team and the player to void them. They should also be tied with the number of minutes played in a season, the playoff seed the team gets and how far the team goes in the playoffs. And not in the form of some minor bonuses. For example, a player that signs a max but fails to make the playoffs missed out on something like 50% of his potential earnings. The numbers could be tweaked to the optimal percentage. They should also include some guaranteed money in case of injuries. Fully guaranteed contracts should be banned.

That should spark some fire in the players that are having it too good right now.

You're penalizing a player for a team's failures, which may have nothing to do with him. Maybe it's the GM's fault, or the coach's. Maybe they should be docked half their pay instead.

I am not penalizing them but forcing them to work with others to a common goal. Those ridiculous sums of money they get from contracts are not their natural God given right. They earn it by playing to win and entertain and if they are not doing either of those things then they havent earned their contracts. Look at it differently. Its not me taking their money away from them but giving them the opportunity to earn 100% more if they and their team mates give it all.

ItsDanger · Post #13 » by **ItsDanger** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 8:59 pm

Big yes.

Post #14 » by **Harry Garris** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 9:01 pm

No. I think it might be better if teams were allowed to put on significant financial incentives on top of a base guaranteed contract though that didn’t count against the cap.

azcatz11 · Post #15 » by **azcatz11** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 9:11 pm

Why would it not be better? Players would be fighting for their lives every game. That’s the beauty of the nfl.

Post #16 » by **cupcakesnake** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 9:19 pm

Prince187 wrote:I

You sign a 200 million dollar contract and that money is yours no matter what happens. There’s no other job like it.

This isn't really true. If you're a highly valuable asset to a company, and temporarily stop providing value, the company might be likely to keep you one if it's believed you might still provide value in the long term. This happens in all kinds of industries if you're considered hard to replace. Say you're the head of a department that you helped build, and no one out there can easily do your job, but you have a stress related breakdown and need to take an indefinite period of time off. The company might decide to wait it out if they think you'll be back to providing value at somem point. I was once in senior management position, but my job became completely pointless when the pandemic hit. I represented a lot of the company's IP in that department, so they kept me on at full salary for 2 years before giving me up. Now that's not a guaranteed contract, but even if Brandon Ingram or Zion didn't have guaranteed contract, the Pelicans are likely to keep them on because of how rare the commodity they are.

Lockdown504090 · Post #17 » by **Lockdown504090** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 9:24 pm

we already have non guaranteed contracts. players in the NBA just arent stupid enough to accept them for the most part. CP is on a non-guarantee for example.
i dont see why we need to artificially supress player value because billionaire owners apparently cant make good decisions.

TacoLord · Post #18 » by **TacoLord** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 9:24 pm

This is a great idea, you try giving out less guaranteed money to your big stars and then see if the other 29 teams follow suit and don't outbid you.

azcatz11 · Post #19 » by **azcatz11** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 9:25 pm

Wallace_Wallace wrote:The players wouldn't allow it. However, it's reasonable to put clauses/performance incentives within the contracts.

If they don’t like it, lock them out

Johnny Bball · Post #20 » by **Johnny Bball** » Fri Jun 2, 2023 9:27 pm

Prince187 wrote:I was reading an article highlighting the dysfunction of the Pelicans and it was shocking just how little Ingram and Zion cared about getting back on the court. Players these days are getting paid enough money in just one year that could last them, their kids, and possibly grandkids for the rest of their lives without ever having to work again.

You sign a 200 million dollar contract and that money is yours no matter what happens. There’s no other job like it. I don’t think you can expect most players to give full effort on the court and totally dedicate themselves to their craft(including things like watching their diet, staying in shape, partying, drugs/alcohol) when they have all that guaranteed money.

I think it hurts the quality of the game. We’ve already seen how the regular season has turned into a joke.

Players get 50% of the money. The only thing that will stop this is giving away all the seats to the poor and not putting the games on TV.