The prospect of a collective bargaining agreement stiffer toward players than the current edition has been batted about the fringes for the past year, as folks predict David Stern's requests (a stricter minimum age limit) and wonder just how dire the owners will make things look. CBS Sportsline has an interesting thought from Billy Hunter, head of the players association: Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBA Players Association, warned last night that any potential free agent who waits around for a new CBA will do so at his own peril. Owners almost certainly won't extend the CBA through the 2011-12 season, so it is set to expire on June 30, 2011.
Hunter is encouraging players who can opt out in 2010 -- and this extends beyond the LeBron/Wade/Bosh set to guys like Joe Johnson, Yao Ming, Tyson Chandler -- to do so because a) a 2011 lockout would delay the signing of new contracts, and b) the new CBA in '11 stands a chance of making NBA playerdom less lucrative.
It's a smart strategy for the players, and could seriously make the free agent class the strongest ever (if it wasn't already). But is it smart for the union? The strength of the union comes from the resolve of its members. If almost every high-priced player just signed a grandfathered huge contract under the old CBA, how invested will they be in scratching for every dollar in negotiations for a new CBA? Hunter has been a strong union leader, and NBA players have always shown strong solidarity. But having LeBron's future cash earnings at stake in the CBA fight would be a heck of an asset.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
With European teams vying for American talent, the owners have to realize that the current bargaining agreement will not work on at least two levels, namely the cap on individual player salaries and the team salary cap. The current agreement places an artificially low cap on the salaries of the true superstars. If NBA owners can't offer Kobe Bryant and Labron James what the Europeans can offer, the owners are likely to lose these players in the future. Thus, the new bargaining agreement has to create exceptions so as to allow the owners to compete with European offers for these players, which means creating exceptions both as to the individual cap on player salaries and the team salary cap.
Not gonna happen. The NBA salary cap is already a joke because of all the exceptions that currently exist. If anything, the new CBA needs to cut out a lot of the exemptions so teams don't have to get stuck paying $20 million to the Stephon Marburys of the world.