NBA Salary Cap Achieved Parity - Do you like the end result?

[Wigginstime]

The NBA has achieved its best parity in league history largely due to the new salary cap rules. Dynasties appear to be a thing of the past. We will now have
7 different champions in 7 different years
You will have had 11 different teams in the NBA finals in the past 7 years
You will have had 16 teams in the conference in finals in the past 7 years

Incredible that 1/3 of the league was in the finals and half the league was effectively contenders in only a 7 year gap. The NBA effectively achieved the goal of parity. this is the greatest parity in league history by far.

Free agency has also became way more active as championship teams simply can't afford to resign players without devastating salary cap penalties. We watched Denver loose both KCP and Brown. Boston now faces the largest luxury cap penalty in league history if you don't also make cost cutting movies.

Is the game better off? The days of dynasties with guys like Magic/Kareem, Bird/Parish/Mchale, Jordan/Pippen, Kobe/Shaq, seem to be behind us.

[JujitsuFlip]

Actually 7.

1. 2019 Raptors
2. 2020 Lakers
3. 2021 Bucks
4. 2022 Warriors
5. 2023 Nuggets
6. 2024 Celtics
7. 2025 Thunder or Pacers

[Wigginstime]

Actually 7.

1. 2019 Raptors
2. 2020 Lakers
3. 2021 Bucks
4. 2022 Warriors
5. 2023 Nuggets
6. 2024 Celtics
7. 2025 Thunder or Pacers

updated

[bledredwine]

It's better than the bullcrap that was going on in the prior decade. Now the league just needs enough skilled superstars to make it exciting league wide.

... More players with tenacity, not soft as charmin, as Kobe would say.

Indiana has role players with this tenacity, but we need the highest level of players to have this tenacity as well.

[jkvonny]

Yes.
I think so.
It's great for the game as well.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

This is wrong.
Dynasties are rare and happen when you have a MVP level guy and another top10 guy ending in the same team, staying together and healthy for multiple years.
once you have them money is not the biggest problem.
When you look at recent champions none of them.failed to repeat because of money, most of them got hit by injuries at the wrong time (Lakers, Bucks, Nuggets, Celtics). The impact of the new CBA has yet to be seen.

[threethehardway]

No, I do not like the results and I hate the cap.

Dynasties propel leagues and the sport forward. Parity does not.

Fans that complain about parity are mad their team is trash because they have trash owner, trash coach and a trash GM.

Instead of blaming the organization they are a fan of, they blame everyone else. It's the refs, the media, and Miami and LA and NYC fault that Timberwolves sucked for most of the NBA's existence.

Sports are the only arena of life where we should encourage the domination and subjugation of others through relentless competition, but in American team sports, it's the only arena of life where we limit competition and cut it off at the knees so billionaires don't have to spend their money to compete.

And the sad thing is, fans in America are not even fans of the sport but fans of teams, so anything to make sure their trash team has a "chance" they will go for.

Only in the NBA world, there's constant talk of markets, parity, corruption and money.

What ever happened to liking the sport and wanting to see the best of the best?

Maybe fans like me never really existed lol.

[druggas]

There's no parity. Dynasties keep everyone's interest.

[rand]

Disparity was never based on wealth. It was always the product of star decisions, luck, good management or in the special case of the Lakers a natural advantage unrelated to having deep pockets (the LA market combined with LA weather/geography combined with LA celebrity culture). Just look the the star franchises before COVID and how they were produced:

KD Warriors: collusion between stars
Pre-KD Warriors: superb drafting, trades and coaching hires
LeBron Cavs Act 2: winning two #1 overall picks which turned into Kyrie + Love followed by LeBron's return
Superfriends Heat: collusion between stars
Kobe/Pau Lakers: Grizz gift wrap Pau
Big 3 Celtics: trades for KG and Ray
Pistons: reclamation project Billups combined with great trades
Duncan Spurs: Lotto luck to get Duncan followed by two decades of great management
Shaq/Kobe Lakers: both stars picked LA who ranked only 9th in payroll after their acquisition
Jordan Bulls: drafted the GOAT* and then drafted another ATG

Many of these franchises ended up with huge payrolls AFTER their success drove big contracts. This should be OK -- a franchise which puts together a potential dynasty through effective management should be permitted to have that dynasty play out naturally rather than be artificially sabotaged by a misplaced emphasis against sustained success at the highest level. Franchises should not be financially penalized for succeeding. Moreover, in actuality the current excessively harsh luxury tax works hardest against teams with shallow pockets since they will have the most difficulty footing the bill in the event that they are fortunate enough to assemble a great team.

All that the cap should be focused on from a competitive standpoint is making sure franchises can't use outsized financial power to manufacture dominant teams, like in baseball. This was never a problem in the NBA to begin with; franchises which tried to use bottomless spending to win usually ended up paying a hefty price just to humiliate themselves.

The NBA should relax the luxury tax and apron penalties and build in more exemptions which help teams retain their own drafted players if those players want to stay. Continuity is a good thing for fans, it helps them form stronger identification with both franchises and players. Players should not be forced to stay with teams through excessively restrictive free agency rules like in the old days but when a player wants to stay with a team and a team wants to keep that player, I think it's a travesty that arbitrary financial parity rules drive them apart, particularly since those players tend to become fan favorites.

[Invictus88]

Ummm... we are just getting started. Wait until things really start rolling this offseason...

[celtxman]

Let's start by saying that parity was already there without the draconian details of the CBA. We've already had different champions before fhe 2nd apron was in effect. But something had to be done to fix what wasn't broken. That's assuming you like parity to begin with.

[Quattro]

To sum up thoughts on the CBA:

Parity bad - lakers, heat, celtics fans
Parity good - everyone else.

[Celts17Pride]

No great teams anymore, and please don’t say Indy or OKC

[Chuck Everett]

No great teams anymore, and please don’t say Indy or OKC

Were the Celtics a great team last year?

[jkvonny]

To sum up thoughts on the CBA:

Parity bad - lakers, heat, celtics fans
Parity good - everyone else.

This.

Lol

[Celts17Pride]

No great teams anymore, and please don’t say Indy or OKC

Were the Celtics a great team last year?

End of an era, now the CBA forces them to dismantle

[Chuck Everett]

No great teams anymore, and please don’t say Indy or OKC

Were the Celtics a great team last year?

End of an era, now the CBA forces them to dismantle

They returned the entire team from last year except for Oshae Brissett. So were they a great team this year?

[Celts17Pride]

Were the Celtics a great team last year?

End of an era, now the CBA forces them to dismantle

They returned the entire team from last year except for Oshae Brissett. So were they a great team this year?

Brown injured, Tatum injured, Holiday injured, Porzingis injured. Injuries happen, part of the game. Different teams deal with injuries in the playoffs every year

[sunless01]

the 3 point spamming and pace and space has done more to create parity than the salary cap

[2LeTTeRS]

We won't really know how effective these rules are until the cap starts rising exponentially over the next few years. I will say though that Im a huge fan of the cap smoothing rules, instead of what we got when the last media rights deal was signed and only the impending free agents were able to cash in.