Jake Fischer: There has been word this morning in Las Vegas that Victor Wembanyama is considering signing less than his maximum rookie scale extension to provide San Antonio greater financial flexibility. Victor Wembanyama: Spurs family, I?m here to stay. Whatever it takes🖤
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This is the only way to circumvent the parity of the new CBA. If players are willing to accept lesser money, then teams have a chance of staying together without getting punished too hard in terms of profitability
It's a very bad CBA if the end result is that the owners continue to make insane profits, while the players are forced to take less than they're worth. We're not talking giving back a few million; this is generational wealth at $50 million.
Ultimately it was Wemby's choice, but he need only look to Boston to see the consequences of taking what's rightfully his. This CBA gives cover to cheap ownership.
It seems many are seeing it this way, but what I get from this is that Wembanyama is taking less expecting that the team will still spend to same amount by paying others more. Essentially what Tom Brady did all those years. What Brunson did. Did the Knicks owners spend less, profit more? No, they used the money they didn't spend on Brunson to build a better team. The Knicks spent right up to the second apron for 2025-26 I believe, while paying Brunson $35M instead of $55M or whatever.
I am in agreement that this current CBA creates an awkward and unsustainable contract dynamic for players like Wembanyama, but this does not mean that the Spurs owners are cheap. We'll see, if the Spurs spend to $5M under the tax or something, then you would be able to make that case, but if they spend up to the first apron or up to the second apron like NYK did, how is that an owner being cheap?
But if the league gets to the point where in order to win, a team not only needs to have one of the best players, but also needs that player on an under market value contract, that does not seem sustainable. Wembanyama took $45M instead of $55M or whatever, but Brunson took $35M. Does that mean that in order to compete, Tatum might need to take $30M? Where does this race to the bottom stop?
The Knicks owner wouldn't pay to bring Mitchell Robinson back. Ownership rewarded Brunson's loyalty by winning a championship on his back and keeping the gigantic boost in revenue in Dolan's pocket.
The CBA is pure leverage to cover the cheapness of owners and put the onus on individual players to take less than they're worth.
Topic: NBA 2026-27 offseason trades, signings & rumors (Read 100500 times)