Much to my chagrin, there is little hope for competitive parity amongst the NBA's 30 teams. When the players' union came to an agreement with team owners in November 2011 to end a months-old lockout, it was the players who ultimately capitulated. This extended game of chicken was intended to equalize shared revenues, while also improving the ability of small-market teams to compete with large-market ones.
The results of this collective bargaining agreement, which officially came into force in December 2011, have been an entirely mixed bag. Many of the policies intended to dampen the financial advantage of large-market teams by punishing exorbitant spending have had the opposite of their intended effects. Rather than constraining rich teams with their massive revenue streams, mostly from TV deals, these new rules instead make poorer teams even more reluctant to splurge on a franchise-changing player.
Not only is the agreement exacting a financial toll on small-market teams, large-market teams are learning to take advantage of their most compelling intangible benefit: the large-market itself. A 20-something professional athlete with a guaranteed salary in the seven or eight-figure range every season will certainly find more satisfactory methods to waste that money in New York than Indianapolis.
But the issues aren't so cut and dry. With the new agreement implemented only a year and a half ago, large-market teams are reacting differently to the changing dynamic in their relationship with labor. Some teams are stuck with massive contracts signed under the old salary cap regime, a reminder of the NBA's pre-recession opulence. For example, the Lakers are the second-richest team in the NBA. As such, they signed Kobe Bryant to a three-year contract extension in 2010, one which will pay him a lavish $30.45 million next season. This insanely bloated contract will eat up almost half of the Lakers' space under the salary cap in the 2013-14.
The difficulty in finding a balance is obvious. The Lakers, for example, could "amnesty" Kobe's contract, wiping any trace of his $30 million payout from the books. While this makes sense academically, there is little support for pushing the most beloved Laker since Magic Johnson to exit stage left. But Bryant's situation, complicated by the politics of being an international superstar, leaves the Lakers with little choice. They'll keep Bryant. Not every aging superstar should feel so secure.
Both Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics and Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks have been with their large-market teams since entering the league in the 1998 draft. Both came to town when their respective franchises were floundering. The Celtics, once the premier NBA franchise, didn't make the playoffs during Pierce's first few years in Boston. The Mavericks hadn't made the postseason in eight consecutive seasons when Nowitzki arrived. After a decade of toiling, each of them earned a victory in the NBA finals to go along with MVP honors.
Neither franchise denies that the ominous penalties for profligate spending are influencing the future of their rosters. But the difference in each side's thinking can't go understated. The Celtics have a $15.33 million team option on Paul Pierce's contract for next season, meaning they have the choice to keep him for one year at the previously agreed upon price. Without much thought for Pierce's loyalty, the Celtics have given no indication about their plans for him. This deafening silence led members of Pierce's inner circle to claim that he doesn't expect to be in Boston next season.
On the other hand, the Mavericks have committed $22.7 million to Nowitzki next season. Mavs owner Mark Cuban has no choice but to keep his long-time franchise player, but that's not the end of the story. In a show of striking loyalty, Nowitzki publicly acknowledged the difficulties of constructing a winning team under the punitive new agreement. So he made clear that when his current contract expires after next season, he intends to take a massive pay cut.
"At this point of my career," Nowitzki said, "it's all about competing and winning."
Each franchise has particular goals and different methods of achieving them. Without being on the inside, it's difficult to determine the appropriateness of one path over the other. One thing we can say for sure: don't underestimate the power of loyalty.
