Obviously there’s a lot involved in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (and I believe you could check out the whole thing here if you really wanted here
http://www.nbpa.com/cba_articles.php), but usually what gets most attention (and what I think most of us are interested in) is the salary structure. So here are my thoughts on that.
Does the NBA really need:A salary cap
AND a luxury tax
AND the traded player exception (salaries need to match within 125% +$100k) .
Now I understand the need for all of these things individually, but to have all 3 is kind of pointless I think (and some just work better than others). What’s the point of having the luxury tax AND the salary cap? I say forget the salary cap, and just have the luxury tax. IMO the luxury tax has worked great in controlling spending by teams. It’s too easy to get around the salary cap with regular trades, sign and trades, and Bird rights. It seems like most owners don’t want to go over the luxury tax, or will only go over the cap for the right situation, but did the salary cap stop anybody from spending? Scrap the cap!
So if we scrap the cap, and just go with the luxury tax, do we need the traded player exception? The traded player exception is mainly there to keep teams from working around the salary cap and keep teams somewhat within the salary cap (right? Or am I missing something?). If we get rid of the cap and the trade restrictions, the NBA becomes a lot more like MLB, and you know some teams (like the Knicks) will just spend, spend, spend and be like the Yankees. Personally, I’m in favor of this. Trading is too complicated as it is right now, and it has created value in players who otherwise have NO value (Keith Van Horn, Theo Ratliff, etc.). I would love to get away from this whole “expiring contract phenomenon.” If a team wants to rebuild and trade an established star (like when the Wolves had KG) and a team is looking to compete now and wants to trade a player on a rookie contract (like when the C’s had Big Al) then these two teams should be able to make the trade straight up if they wanted. What was really accomplished by the C’s having to include Theo Ratliff’s expiring contract? I think the luxury tax is enough to keep spending in check.
My proposal: get rid of the salary cap, get rid of the traded player exception, and instead establish a tiered luxury tax (like how income tax works).
Just throwing out numbers, say if the luxury tax is $50M, then a dollar for dollar tax to $75M, a dollar fifty for dollar tax from $75M to $100M, and a two dollar for dollar tax for $100M plus. Right now it seems few owners are willing to pay the tax, so increasing the tax at higher amounts should help curb spending even more, while allowing teams more freedom in constructing their teams.
What do you guys think, or in what ways would you change the CBA to make the league better?