Interesting Articles: The NBA from a Legal Side

[magicfan9109]

Hello, Orlando Magic Family. Been on the board since 2009 and been on this train since 2002. Anyways, I recently graduated from law school and while waiting for my bar results, I decided to start a blog that examines NBA issues from the legal perspective. I recently had a chat with the capologist for the Atlanta Hawks, and he suggested I produce content displaying an understanding of the CBA. I have 3 posts so far and have had pretty decent feedback. I thought I would post this here to share with you guys. Feel free to post your thoughts or comments. Check it out! Feel free to share it as well!

General Link: http://pursuitofnba.blogspot.com

Here is a really interesting story I wrote regarding the CBA and the early termination option this December!

http://pursuitofnba.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-durant-may-have-doomed-us-to.html

I hope that you guys find it interesting!

[drsd]

I hope that you guys find it interesting!

Institute a Cap Smoothing Mechanism

The owners and management offered this. They tried to sweeten the offer so that there would be an overall increase in salaries. But the upper end players realised that they would make more money and nothing materialised.

For me the only solution for a "fair" CBA would be if the star players were "removed" from the negotiation. The bottom 200 players in the NBA represent half of what the player's association represents, yet CBAs are never maximal to their interests. I have never understood that.

Increasing minimum salaries. Giving more injury protection on salary. Protect veteran players playing time from incompetent rookies who will take years to develop as a true NBA baller (the Hezonja types). Increase pensions and health care for retired players.
---> There are a lot of little things Silver could do to get low end of NBA Ballers to get 50% +1 of NBA players to have an income stream that essentially eliminates the future of $200M contracts and $40M a year contracts. But that won't happen. And I don't understand why.
Michele Roberts is charged with maximising super-star players' contracts rather than improving the income of the most total number of players. That's just how it is.


,..

[BadMofoPimp]

I learned some things today. Thanks!

[NBlue]

For me the only solution for a "fair" CBA would be if the star players were "removed" from the negotiation. The bottom 200 players in the NBA represent half of what the player's association represents, yet CBAs are never maximal to their interests. I have never understood that.

Increasing minimum salaries. Giving more injury protection on salary. Protect veteran players playing time from incompetent rookies who will take years to develop as a true NBA baller (the Hezonja types). Increase pensions and health care for retired players.
---> There are a lot of little things Silver could do to get low end of NBA Ballers to get 50% +1 of NBA players to have an income stream that essentially eliminates the future of $200M contracts and $40M a year contracts. But that won't happen. And I don't understand why.
Michele Roberts is charged with maximising super-star players' contracts rather than improving the income of the most total number of players. That's just how it is.

I think that really depends on your definition of "fair." If you are defining "fair" as more equal wealth distribution than -- okay, sure. If you are defining "fair" based on a fair-market valuation of the players true worth than I think its clear that Lebron James would be the most underpaid player in the NBA (by far). In the NBA perhaps more than any other professional sport, stars bring eyeballs and sell tickets. The NBA television contracts is primarily based on the star players, not the 10th, 11th and 12th players on the bench (let alone 13 and 14). The minimum NBA salary is $800,000 but if you look at the true value of a 13th or 14th player that certainly well overstates their value on almost every occasion. Conversely, looking at Lebron for example I think he is easily worth $75M per year and probably well more than that to any team he is on due to the marketing cache alone. One could say the same with Steph though Lebron is still more ingrained internationally of course.

To be clear, I'm not impugning the NBA model -- I'm just saying what you are seeking is a more equal distribution of profits -- that doesn't mean that its "fair". It might be the "right" thing to do (or not) depending on your perspective.

[drsd]

I think that really depends on your definition of "fair."

I guess my point is that I do not understand why the 50% +1 does not dominate the negotiations. In history peasants revolting with pitchforks is the result of all efforts to support the elite.

Why would players like E'Twaun Moore, Austin Rivers, Anthony Morrow, Jason Terry, Josh McRoberts, Jameer Nelson, Nick Young, C.J. Watson, Metta World Peace, Kelly Oubre Jr., and on and on - care about whether Curry and James gets a 20M, 30M, or 40M a year deal?


At some point the deep bench of all NBA teams will realise their one vote is worth the same as Anthony Davis' one vote. When they realise that, the CBA negation processes will forever be changed.



..

[dsg2021]

Awesome blog man, keep it up

[magicfan9109]

I hope that you guys find it interesting!

Institute a Cap Smoothing Mechanism

The owners and management offered this. They tried to sweeten the offer so that there would be an overall increase in salaries. But the upper end players realised that they would make more money and nothing materialised.

For me the only solution for a "fair" CBA would be if the star players were "removed" from the negotiation. The bottom 200 players in the NBA represent half of what the player's association represents, yet CBAs are never maximal to their interests. I have never understood that.

Increasing minimum salaries. Giving more injury protection on salary. Protect veteran players playing time from incompetent rookies who will take years to develop as a true NBA baller (the Hezonja types). Increase pensions and health care for retired players.
---> There are a lot of little things Silver could do to get low end of NBA Ballers to get 50% +1 of NBA players to have an income stream that essentially eliminates the future of $200M contracts and $40M a year contracts. But that won't happen. And I don't understand why.
Michele Roberts is charged with maximising super-star players' contracts rather than improving the income of the most total number of players. That's just how it is.


,..

I get where you are going, but I think it would be tough to determine which players would be considered star players. I think it would be a grey designation and teams/players would try to find ways around that. I tried to do something like this as an idea in my blog, but settled against it. For example, Damian Lillard is a star, but did not make the all-star game last year So, what criteria do we use to determine who is a star player? That would be tough to decide and then defend.

[magicfan9109]

Thanks for the support everyone. Glad we got a little conversation going too!

[NEM]

I hope that you guys find it interesting!

Institute a Cap Smoothing Mechanism

The owners and management offered this. They tried to sweeten the offer so that there would be an overall increase in salaries. But the upper end players realised that they would make more money and nothing materialised.

For me the only solution for a "fair" CBA would be if the star players were "removed" from the negotiation. The bottom 200 players in the NBA represent half of what the player's association represents, yet CBAs are never maximal to their interests. I have never understood that.

Increasing minimum salaries. Giving more injury protection on salary. Protect veteran players playing time from incompetent rookies who will take years to develop as a true NBA baller (the Hezonja types). Increase pensions and health care for retired players.
---> There are a lot of little things Silver could do to get low end of NBA Ballers to get 50% +1 of NBA players to have an income stream that essentially eliminates the future of $200M contracts and $40M a year contracts. But that won't happen. And I don't understand why.
Michele Roberts is charged with maximising super-star players' contracts rather than improving the income of the most total number of players. That's just how it is.


,..

It won't happen because low end NBA players don't bring in revenue for the NBA and Adam silvers pockets. The super stars are their money makers, hence the need to keep them happy. Low end NBA players are happy to be in the league getting a pay check...

[jaywalkszzz]

For me the only solution for a "fair" CBA would be if the star players were "removed" from the negotiation. The bottom 200 players in the NBA represent half of what the player's association represents, yet CBAs are never maximal to their interests. I have never understood that.

Increasing minimum salaries. Giving more injury protection on salary. Protect veteran players playing time from incompetent rookies who will take years to develop as a true NBA baller (the Hezonja types). Increase pensions and health care for retired players.
---> There are a lot of little things Silver could do to get low end of NBA Ballers to get 50% +1 of NBA players to have an income stream that essentially eliminates the future of $200M contracts and $40M a year contracts. But that won't happen. And I don't understand why.
Michele Roberts is charged with maximising super-star players' contracts rather than improving the income of the most total number of players. That's just how it is.

I think that really depends on your definition of "fair." If you are defining "fair" as more equal wealth distribution than -- okay, sure. If you are defining "fair" based on a fair-market valuation of the players true worth than I think its clear that Lebron James would be the most underpaid player in the NBA (by far). In the NBA perhaps more than any other professional sport, stars bring eyeballs and sell tickets. The NBA television contracts is primarily based on the star players, not the 10th, 11th and 12th players on the bench (let alone 13 and 14). The minimum NBA salary is $800,000 but if you look at the true value of a 13th or 14th player that certainly well overstates their value on almost every occasion. Conversely, looking at Lebron for example I think he is easily worth $75M per year and probably well more than that to any team he is on due to the marketing cache alone. One could say the same with Steph though Lebron is still more ingrained internationally of course.

To be clear, I'm not impugning the NBA model -- I'm just saying what you are seeking is a more equal distribution of profits -- that doesn't mean that its "fair". It might be the "right" thing to do (or not) depending on your perspective.

Before the 2011 CBA negotiations, the players earned 57% of BRI. After the 2011 CBA negotiations, that dropped down to 50% plus or minus a percent of BRI. I personally think that star players like Lebron James and Chris Paul bring value and leverage to CBA negotiations. Specifically, their presence and leadership may help the NBPA earn back a bigger slice of BRI. That is still yet to be seen though.

Currently, about 10% of the NBA are players with “max” salaries. The remaining 90% fall in the other categories.

The current demographic of the NBPA Player Representatives/Executive Committee in my estimation are as follows:
~38%: “max”, “soon-to-be max”, or “close-to-max” players.
~40%: “middle-class” players
~18%: “rookie-scale” players
~2%: minimum player
~2%: non-guaranteed player

The NBPA leadership/executive committee site has yet to be updated, but this is what I researched & gathered (click on image in twitter to zoom):

Read on Twitter

With the number of non-max players in the NBPA outnumbering "max", "soon-to-be max", or "close-to-max" players, I predict that minimum salaries will get a bump in % that scales with the salary cap just like how max-tier salaries do. Regardless of what class the player falls in, all players will inevitably plateau, a few will play past their prime, and many may be destined for minimum salaries; thus, I think the popular vote would be to increase minimum salaries.