NBA Owners Push For Some Elements Of Hard Cap, Reduced Salaries

NBA owners "have sent their initial proposal" for a new CBA to the NBPA and are "pushing for some elements of a 'hard' salary cap as well as a drastic reduction in player salaries," according to sources cited by Ken Berger of CBSSPORTS.com. A source said that the proposal "seeks a reduction in the players' share of basketball-related income" from 57% to "well below" 50%. Owners also are seeking "some elements of a hard cap -- a departure from the current luxury-tax system -- and a reduction in the length and amount of max contracts." The owners are "pushing for some elements of a hard cap to replace the current luxury tax system, in which teams with payrolls above the tax line subsidize those staying below the limit," which was set at $69.9M this season. One NBA player agent "called a hard cap 'untenable,' but said the owners' financial losses [and] a similar request for pay cuts by NFL owners create a double-whammy of leverage." Management sources predicted that if the owners "succeed in implementing some version of a hard cap," it would "drive player salaries down precipitously." Berger noted NBA owners and players will meet in Dallas this week during All-Star Weekend for their "first face-to-face bargaining session as they try to reach an agreement before the current deal expires in 2011" (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/6).

REDUCING MAXIMUM SALARIES? ESPN.com's Ric Bucher cited a source as saying that the owners' proposal includes "rollbacks that could reduce maximum guaranteed salaries" for players to "almost a third of what they would have been eligible for under the current agreement." The source said that the "total value for a veteran maximum deal would be well under" $60M, and "for players currently on rookie salary-scale deals well under" $50M. Fully-guaranteed maximum deals also "could be a thing of the past, with the proposal allowing for less than half of any contract to be guaranteed." Several sources added that the "mid-level exception and other devices that allow teams over the salary cap to sign free agents also would be abolished," effectively "creating a hard cap." Bucher wrote "perhaps the biggest shocker" is that the owners' proposal includes a "provision that would require any pre-existing deals to be revised to conform to the new deal's limits." One agent said, "If the top players are united against [NBA Commissioner David Stern], that's going to make for a tough fight. It could get very ugly." Several sources said that "presenting a new proposal nearly 18 months in advance of the current deal's anticipated expiration is unprecedented" (ESPN.com, 2/7).

Foyle Calls Owners' CBA Proposal "Unfair"

PLAYERS REACT: Magic C and NBPA First VP Adonal Foyle yesterday called the owners' latest CBA offer "'unfair' and said the owners' proposed salary rollbacks have mobilized and united the league's players." Foyle: "Doing that is probably the fatal flaw, because if there is one way to unite the entire NBA against a single thing it would be to go after everybody. I think what this proposal has done has done us a favor. It has basically mobilized all our players. ... Now they have awakened not only the players who have been constantly involved in these kinds of negotiations, but they've awakened the guys that would have been on the outside looking in" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/8). Foyle added, "It's a proposal that's far-reaching. This (new proposal) has gone too far. It wants a hard cap, it basically will create no middle class" (ESPN.com, 2/7). But Stern said, "At the end of the day, we have a combined interest with our players to grow the pie to the greatest extent possible. And then we need a sustained business model to make sure that our players in effect remain the highest-paid players in professional sports and that our teams have the opportunity to be profitable" (AP, 2/7).

LOCKOUT LOOMING? In N.Y., Mitch Lawrence wrote the NBA is "awash in red ink, making the prospects even greater for a lockout starting on July 1, 2011." An ownership source familiar with franchise finances said teams that are "losing tons of money this season" include the Hawks, Grizzlies, Pistons, Heat, Magic, Hornets, Thunder, Pacers, Nets, T'Wolves, Bobcats, Bucks and 76ers. The Mavericks, who are hosting this week's All-Star Weekend festivities, also are "reportedly in the red." The source: "Everybody is thinking there's going to be a lockout. The owners are serious about a lockout. The economics of the present deal just don't work" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/7).

FREE AGENT IMPACT: In Cleveland, Brian Windhorst wrote a hard cap "levels the entire playing field and, in fact, could penalize a team that has a player" like LeBron James. Teams that have players "making huge money ... may not have the options to surround that player with as much talent." In the short run, the "threat of these measures virtually guarantees" that big-name free agents "will opt out of their contracts this summer." It also may "change what they're looking for when they do sign somewhere." Windhorst: "With the danger of new, less favorable max contract rules, they may instead look to sign for longer terms to stay grandfathered into the current system" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 2/7).