Executives from teams like the Clippers, Nuggets, and Lakers have cited the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement and its new tax apron rules this offseason when explaining their inability to retain key players or to make roster upgrades. The apron has also been blamed by some league observers for a perceived decline in blockbuster trades, given the various new restrictions that apron teams face when trying to make deals.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, including ESPN’s Baxter Holmes, NBA commissioner Adam Silver defended the apron rules, suggesting they’re having their intended effect and disagreeing with the notion that they’ve made the offseason any less exciting.
“What I’m hearing from teams, even as the second apron is moving to kick in, the teams are realizing there are real teeth in those provisions,” Silver said. “I don’t know how to view this, but I know reports have come out that the summer was boring from a fan standpoint. I don’t certainly think it was. We still saw a lot of critically important players moving from one team to another as free agents.
“But at the same time, I think this new system, while I don’t want it to be boring, I want to put teams in a position, 30 teams, to better compete. I think we’re on our way to doing that.”
Silver also pushed back on the perception that the NBA is trying to break up dynasties or discourage teams from being able to win two or three titles in a row.
“As long as we can create something close to a level playing field in terms of the tools available to teams to compete, I’m absolutely fine with dynasties and I’m fine with new teams emerging every year,” Silver said.
Here’s more from the commissioner:
- The NBA is still putting the finishing touches on its new media rights deals, according to Silver, who reiterated that the league will turn its focus to possible expansion when those agreements have been finalized. “I will say (expansion)’s a bit more complicated than is suggested sometimes,” Silver said, per Holmes. “Just think of the new media deals, for example. Once they’re completed, when you bring in new partners, you’re diluting those payments to teams. Sometimes it seems as if we’re printing money when we expand. Actually, it’s no different than selling equity in any business. I think there needs to be a fair amount of modeling at the league office, working with existing owners and really thinking through the long-term prospects, again not just economically but also for potential of dilution of talent.”
- Silver confirmed that Knicks owner James Dolan sent a letter to the NBA office and the rest of the league’s teams criticizing the new media deals, acknowledging that the contents of that letter were discussed at Tuesday’s Board of Governors meeting. However, he declined to go into any more detail, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Post writes. “My response is we try to keep these issues in the family,” Silver said. “… I don’t think it’s appropriate to get into the specifics of what was discussed at our meeting.”
- According to Holmes, Silver referred to Wyc Grousbeck‘s announcement that the Celtics are up for sale as “bittersweet,” lauding the current ownership group for the work it has done with the franchise over the past couple decades. “I understand the family circumstances and why he and his family have elected at this moment to sell the franchise,” Silver said. “I’m frankly saddened by it, just because not only have they won two championships, but beyond that they’ve operated the team in a first-class manner and he’s been a first-class owner in this league.”
Being exciting to fans in a relatively short offseason shouldn’t be the priority for the league. A ton of transactions of big players isn’t the most important thing for the league. What matters is having as competitive a league as possible so the regular season matters and people watch the actual games.
No team should have to lose a drafted player because of money.
Disagree, but I do think they’re there should be some exceptions for drafted players. Shouldn’t be too hard to find some sort of middle ground there, but clearly neither the league nor the players were interested in one during the last CBA negotiations.
Silver is a complete clown. There isn’t close to enough available talent for 30 teams to compete, regardless of how much further they dilute the product. Perhaps it doesn’t matter to the current NBA fan base. At some point, we’ll see.
“At some point, we’ll see.”
We can see now.
It doesn’t matter.
There is 100% 36 more NBA caliber players that the league could handle lol
Yep, you can always find bodies. To some, that’s all that matters. I get it.
You’re comment will get a few likes but it doesn’t make sense. 20 years ago when the Bobcats were added to the league the NBA talent pool with the exception of a few Europeans and the very occasional Asian was almost exclusively from the United States. These days the NBA pulls players from every corner of the globe.
The only teams in the league that aren’t competitive are those that choose not to be or due to injury. If you took away the incentives for not being competitive such as making the lottery completely random and reduced revenue sharing suddenly every team would compete.
Generally, you’re buying into a fiction that, in every sport, has fallen of its own weight upon any analysis. Just because player points of origin encompass a geographical area with a larger population doesn’t mean they are representatives of a larger pool of talent. Talent comes at different levels, and at the most important level (impact players) the NBA’s talent pool hasn’t changed much. Long before 20 years ago, the NBA was extracting impact talent from around the globe. Most of the best big men (Ewing, Hakeem, Mutombo, Duncan, Yao, etc,) were born outside the US. The best big skill guys from Europe also came here eventually (Schrempf, Kukoc, Dirk, etc.). The biggest differences today is below the impact player level. The World’s greater contribution to that group is at least off set by the decline in skills of the American born players.
In the end, no complex analysis is needed to show this. When a sports league has access to a deep talent pool, player pricing power collapses. Simple economics, and there are no exceptions. So, is player pricing power disappearing? It is, arguably, at C, at least a bit. But it’s the opposite at every other position. If you don’t like economics, look at the NBA drafts. Whatever countries NBA players call home, almost all NBA players come through the draft at some point. Look at the drafts over a 5-10 year period, and ask yourself if there is enough there for 30 teams to compete for a title? And the related question of whether a team that doesn’t pick in the top half of the 1st round for 5-10 years could even dream of being such a competitor? If not, then it doesn’t really matter how many different countries the players come from? There simply isn’t enough talent to go around.
Teams chose to not compete. it’s not that there isn’t the player to
They do chose not to compete, and that’s a bigger issue. But I can’t ignore one of the obvious reasons why they might make that choice, ill advised as it might be. There isn’t enough talent (impact talent in particular) to go around where everyone can compete for a title. So traditional building – step by step – might not get you to that point, particularly when you can’t get impact talent in free agency either, and trading for it is at an insane price.
I think a big part of the dilute problem is purely economics, we are seeing a record amount of UDFA and 4 yr 2nd rd contracts inked and it has more to do with future accounting than what it provides on court for the viewer
To your 2nd part, I think it will matter a whole lot in time.
Never has there been a sport with a fanbase more interested in what happens off-court relative to how much they actually watch than the current NBA,( just check the viewership numbers) Give um time to absorb it and they will be beating their chests soon, and rightfully so
I have a totally different take about the NBA. I see incredible numbers of new young players coming into the NBA each year. In fact, lots of good experienced NBA players have to leave before they want to as these new talents take their places. And at the same time the quality of play keeps getting better and better. Happily basketball is now global and thus room for all somewhere or other.
Well, if you think the quality of play keeps getting better, go with it.
*Just stop with the 30 teams competing, if anything your just opening up bigger opportunities to be a dumping ground now by enhancing the value of well being a money dump station for others
*”they’re having their intended effect and disagreeing with the notion that they’ve made the offseason any less exciting.” You don’t even believe that yourself Adam…stop
You know whats going to hurt is when 5 teams own most the draft picks and they don’t even want to use them to better themselves and the rest of the league is held in purgatory …stop worrying bout the damn bottom of the pond so much,. they don’t give a rip about your rules, they will bend them to bottom out further
My goodness, who bought that crap? This CBA is crap and those of us who know the markets saw it the day it was released, save the spin cycle for your linens Adam
Don’t get me started on what you’ve now done to the middle class and below….. Rant ended
To be fair, the players and their reps did agree to the CBA. No one to blame but themselves for this very predictable failure, similar to the last couple of CBAs in MLB.
Oh Im sure we will be hearing from many of the non-max players here shortly
There was 5 Mles and 2 TPMles handed out this year mainly due to proximity to one of the lines (tax, apron 1, 2 ) . Its not going to take that tax bracket of those potential players long to read the writing, 22% of free cap was used on non free agents like taking Hardaway Jr in, YUCK, brutal, and a reason why any good agent now is not testing free agency (bad for fans)
Why don’t those same reps argue to ever shave off a mere 2% from the maxes to get the others more? You know why
I don’t believe this offseason was boring because of the new aprons. The free agent class was weak and so was the draft class. There is still plenty of time for big deals, as evidenced by the Dame and Harden trades last year.
Adam Silver really be moving like a mob boss lmao