The NBA this past week "turned the sports economy on its head" during the start of free agency, as the infusion of TV contract money has led to unknown bench players "getting upward of $15 million a year," according to a front-page piece by Marc Tracy of the N.Y. TIMES. The "startling redistribution of wealth" among players is a "product of a TV rights extension with ESPN and Turner Sports that is "about a 180% increase over the last contract." Because NBA salary rules also "restrict maximum payouts, favor veterans and strictly slot rookie contracts, many milquetoast players are paid above what their open market value would be." But NBA owners also are "enjoying the NBA's boom times." Tracy: "The high contracts reflect a fundamental reality: Business has never been better" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/7). HBO's Bill Simmons said, "Don't blame the players. The league is drowning in cash from its new TV deal. We knew this day was coming. ... This summer, NBA money felt a little like Silicon Valley money” ("Any Given Wednesday," HBO, 7/6). However, CSNNorthwest.com's Dwight Jaynes believes the league is "heading towards another work stoppage" as a result of the record spending. Jaynes said, "The owners might do a lockout in a couple of years because they’re seeing a lot of money fly out the door. It’s a case of the owners saying, ‘Stop us from spending ourselves into lunacy.’ Because you set a cap and it’s a soft cap, people are going to go over it. That’s just automatic” ("Trail Blazers Courtside," CSN Northwest, 7/6).
KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF: CSNBAYAREA.com's Ray Ratto also thinks there might be a lockout in the future, but for a different reason. He wrote if the NBA and its team owners "decide in a year’s time to lock out the players as the opening gambit of a work stoppage, the past few weeks may well be the reason." The acquisition of NBA free agents "is now a shining example of raw, brazen tampering, with players serving as agents, either willing or coincidental, for their current teams to poach from other teams with a simple series of persuasive 'we should play together' entreaties." If Kevin Durant joining the Warriors "isn’t enough of an example," Dwyane Wade’s ultimately failed wooing by LeBron James and the Cavaliers "while still very much a member of the Miami Heat surely is" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 7/6).
