Silver: Free Agency needs enforceable rules

[Bobshot]

You can't really enforce tampering between players. The problem right now is players asking to be traded so they can be paired with another player who is going to another team. Presti had that situation with George, so the Clippers had to overpay to get George so they could get Leonard. The situation is not that different if Westbrook now wants to be traded. Somebody will  have to overpay, though it won't be as extreme as George.

The current trend is the LA/NY big markets loading up. The Knicks are excluded because the stars don't like the organization/owner.

Some thing Silver could do: 1) limit the max contracts per team to 2, 2) extend max contracts to 7 years (I heard Broussard suggest this on Cowherd), so players have less incentive to leave, and 3) prohibit teams from trading players with max contracts.  No.1 is almost a no brainer. 3 max players gives a team too much advantage. And since these contracts are guaranteed, wny should a player be allowed to renege on a guaranteed contract? Too much advantage to the player there.

The other thing I don't like about the max is there isn't enough differentiation in the max salary of stars. Why does Irving get the same max as Walker and Horford? What's the standard?

[nickagneta]

You can't really enforce tampering between players. The problem right now is players asking to be traded so they can be paired with another player who is going to another team. Presti had that situation with George, so the Clippers had to overpay to get George so they could get Leonard. The situation is not that different if Westbrook now wants to be traded. Somebody will  have to overpay, though it won't be as extreme as George.

The current trend is the LA/NY big markets loading up. The Knicks are excluded because the stars don't like the organization/owner.

Some thing Silver could do: 1) limit the max contracts per team to 2, 2) extend max contracts to 7 years (I heard Broussard suggest this on Cowherd), so players have less incentive to leave, and 3) prohibit teams from trading players with max contracts.  No.1 is almost a no brainer. 3 max players gives a team too much advantage. And since these contracts are guaranteed, wny should a player be allowed to renege on a guaranteed contract? Too much advantage to the player there.

The other thing I don't like about the max is there isn't enough differentiation in the max salary of stars. Why does Irving get the same max as Walker and Horford? What's the standard?

Brousard is an idiot. The owners fought to get contracts maxed out at 4 and 5 years. The contracts used to be extremely long like 7 years but the owners started giving out those 7 year deals and it clogged up their cap space with players not even being close to having the ability to warrant the contracts monetary value those last 2-3 years. Those contracts became albatrosses for those teams.

There is no way the league returns to 7 year contracts. Can you imagine instead of 4 year deals if Westbrook and Wall were just starting 7 year deals?

[Kuberski33]

FWIW the NBA does do revenue sharing.

How does it work? I'm thinking something drastic where all ticket revenue gets split and then teams can keep what they generate for ad sales, local TV and luxury boxes.  I know national TV already gets split but extend it to tickets.  NFL does I think a 60/40 split between home and visiting team.  Just put it all in one pool and divy it up evenly - no home/away splits.

[petbrick]

The other thing I don't like about the max is there isn't enough differentiation in the max salary of stars. Why does Irving get the same max as Walker and Horford? What's the standard?

The standard is in years played and (in some cases) accolades earned. Try to figure out a good way to do it in a way that doesn't involve an ever-changing salary cap.

However in regard to the general thread:
Team owners are, by and large, twitchy and reactive. General managers, even the smart ones, can be stupid: and you'll only know after the fact. NBA careers are, largely, a crapshoot. Steph Curry laboured under an awful/team-friendly contract for years because of ankle issues and Kevin Durant is currently about to be paid five years' salary for four years work. There's a reason why in the post-Carmelo lockout the owners had two major things to negotiate (not including the revenue split between players and teams): how to make them less likely to trade for players  on "unfair terms" and how to get the awful contracts they sign off the books with the amnesty clause. Remember who else signed contracts in 2016? The Warriors got KD but a lot of players got an awful lot of money because front offices are manned by people who aren't as oracular as they think they are.

How much of this can be laid at the feet of the players?

Everyone is talking about the Clippers but the front office mortgaged their future for two years of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George -- gentlemen who missed seasons with injuries and have shown that they'll bail at the first opportunity they can. That's their right as employees (and this is the issue with limiting free agency in general), but it's also the right of the management to, you know, avoid sending five first round draft picks away in order to have the guy who the guy you want to hire says he wants you to hire.

[Roy H.]

You can't really enforce tampering between players. The problem right now is players asking to be traded so they can be paired with another player who is going to another team. Presti had that situation with George, so the Clippers had to overpay to get George so they could get Leonard. The situation is not that different if Westbrook now wants to be traded. Somebody will  have to overpay, though it won't be as extreme as George.

The current trend is the LA/NY big markets loading up. The Knicks are excluded because the stars don't like the organization/owner.

Some thing Silver could do: 1) limit the max contracts per team to 2, 2) extend max contracts to 7 years (I heard Broussard suggest this on Cowherd), so players have less incentive to leave, and 3) prohibit teams from trading players with max contracts.  No.1 is almost a no brainer. 3 max players gives a team too much advantage. And since these contracts are guaranteed, wny should a player be allowed to renege on a guaranteed contract? Too much advantage to the player there.

The other thing I don't like about the max is there isn't enough differentiation in the max salary of stars. Why does Irving get the same max as Walker and Horford? What's the standard?

Brousard is an idiot. The owners fought to get contracts maxed out at 4 and 5 years. The contracts used to be extremely long like 7 years but the owners started giving out those 7 year deals and it clogged up their cap space with players not even being close to having the ability to warrant the contracts monetary value those last 2-3 years. Those contracts became albatrosses for those teams.

There is no way the league returns to 7 year contracts. Can you imagine instead of 4 year deals if Westbrook and Wall were just starting 7 year deals?

Right.  Plus, why would a seven year contract give guys less incentive to move?  Instead of leaving in free agency, they'll just force trades.  Look at Paul George.  He forced his way off a team with one year left on his contract.  Then, he forced his way off a team with three years left on his contract.  You think he wouldn't have tried the same thing if he had five years left?

But ultimately, the league isn't going to restrict player movement.  It turns the NBA into a year round sport.  During the week of July 4, who was the sports world talking about?  Kawhi and the NBA.

[ChillyWilly]

Why even have contracts? Work for whoever you want.

[nickagneta]

FWIW the NBA does do revenue sharing.

How does it work? I'm thinking something drastic where all ticket revenue gets split and then teams can keep what they generate for ad sales, local TV and luxury boxes.  I know national TV already gets split but extend it to tickets.  NFL does I think a 60/40 split between home and visiting team.  Just put it all in one pool and divy it up evenly - no home/away splits.

There is a couple ways. First there is something called Basketball Related Income that gets shared equally amongst players and owners 50/50 and the owners share split equally amongst all teams, but there is also the luxury tax. Luxury taxes imposed upon teams are put into a pool and distributed equally amongst all non-tax paying teams.

[bellerephon]

You can't really enforce tampering between players. The problem right now is players asking to be traded so they can be paired with another player who is going to another team. Presti had that situation with George, so the Clippers had to overpay to get George so they could get Leonard. The situation is not that different if Westbrook now wants to be traded. Somebody will  have to overpay, though it won't be as extreme as George.

The current trend is the LA/NY big markets loading up. The Knicks are excluded because the stars don't like the organization/owner.

Some thing Silver could do: 1) limit the max contracts per team to 2, 2) extend max contracts to 7 years (I heard Broussard suggest this on Cowherd), so players have less incentive to leave, and 3) prohibit teams from trading players with max contracts.  No.1 is almost a no brainer. 3 max players gives a team too much advantage. And since these contracts are guaranteed, wny should a player be allowed to renege on a guaranteed contract? Too much advantage to the player there.

The other thing I don't like about the max is there isn't enough differentiation in the max salary of stars. Why does Irving get the same max as Walker and Horford? What's the standard?

Brousard is an idiot. The owners fought to get contracts maxed out at 4 and 5 years. The contracts used to be extremely long like 7 years but the owners started giving out those 7 year deals and it clogged up their cap space with players not even being close to having the ability to warrant the contracts monetary value those last 2-3 years. Those contracts became albatrosses for those teams.

There is no way the league returns to 7 year contracts. Can you imagine instead of 4 year deals if Westbrook and Wall were just starting 7 year deals?

Right.  Plus, why would a seven year contract give guys less incentive to move?  Instead of leaving in free agency, they'll just force trades.  Look at Paul George.  He forced his way off a team with one year left on his contract.  Then, he forced his way off a team with three years left on his contract.  You think he wouldn't have tried the same thing if he had five years left?

But ultimately, the league isn't going to restrict player movement.  It turns the NBA into a year round sport.  During the week of July 4, who was the sports world talking about?  Kawhi and the NBA.

Another important point to remember is that the league cannot impose rules without the players' input. For legal reasons the league needs to sign a collective bargaining agreement with the players, and that agreement needs to be negotiated. The players likely won't agree to things that limit player movement or impose a hard cap.