T'Wolves Owner Glen Taylor said of whether the league would ever consider vetoing Kevin Durant signing with the Warriors for basketball reasons, similar to what it did in '11 with Chris Paul and the Lakers, "No, I don’t think that’s going to happen. We have our rules already in place because we have a pretty strong contract with the players union. Right now it’s a contract that if we stay in, it will go for the next seven years. I just think we have to abide by what we agreed to, even if not everybody agrees with what is happening" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/17). In Chicago, Rick Morrissey wrote someone would have to "be a party pooper not to enjoy watching" the way Durant plays. Morrissey: "I'm not sure how you stop great players from taking less money to sign with contending teams. I can't think of a Collective Bargaining Agreement that would be able to address that, nor can I think of one that should. But Silver said it deserves pondering" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/16).
FREE STATE: THE VERTICAL's Bobby Marks asked whether this summer's NBA free agency moves were the "perfect storm of new TV money impacting the salary cap or a continual pattern for the near future?" Marks was Nets Assistant GM during the '13-14 season and noted the club "sent shock waves through the NBA" with its $100M+ payroll. Now there are 10 teams with $100M payrolls and five more hovering north of $95M. The spending in '16 also "will have an impact with the excellent free-agent class next summer." The field of 27 teams with $20M+ in cap space this summer "could be sliced in half by the time next July rolls around." Even with the cap rising from $94M to a projected $102M, early projections "forecast only 12 teams" having $15M+ in cap room (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/15).
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: In Charlotte, Peter St. Onge wrote the '17 NBA All-Star Game is "about to leave Charlotte, and no one really wants it to happen." Things "don't look promising for Charlotte" in the wake of comments from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver last week regarding the calendar. North Carolina "has a bad law on the books, and lawmakers don’t feel any incentive to change it." The shot clock is "ticking down on the NBA" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/16). In Boston, Steve Bulpett cited a convention business source as saying that "because of the need for venue and large blocks of hotel rooms that Orlando and Las Vegas were the only cities that could accommodate an event of this size on late notice." The source added that Las Vegas "may be the only option" (BOSTON HERALD, 7/17).
