Mark Cuban warns free agents ‘a money train’ might not be a’comin
The NBA has waited two years for the explosion. It had to wait out the official news of the league’s newest national TV contract, and the various plans that were suggested that would smooth out a massive salary cap increase, and it still has yet to learn what the official mark for the 2016-17 salary cap will actually be.
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No matter. The cap will likely jump about $22 million (or more) in a few weeks, and players are going to get paid. Jeremy Lin is going to party like it’s 2012 all over again (if only they had a nickname for that), Bradley Beal might make ten times what Scottie Pippen made during Chicago’s 1998 championship run, and Hassan Whiteside could be the most coveted man in the NBA this summer.
To say nothing of LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade picking and choosing a season and contract at a time how they extract as much money as possible from their respective teams. So, ready yourself for the blowup, right?
Eh, maybe not. According to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, at least (via Pro Basketball Talk):
“Every player thinks it’s just going to be a money train this summer. There’s a lot of money; there’s not THAT much money. … And I think there’s going to be teams that save their money for next year, because it’s a better free agent class. People just presume now that everybody’s going to get paid a lot of money, and it’ll be interesting to see if that happens.”
The NBA’s new national television deal is worth $24 billion, the next NBA team to change ownership hands will be sold for over a billion (if not much, much more) bucks, and the salary cap is projected to rise to over $92 million this summer, up from $70 million.
As such, many expected all new contracts to rise exponentially. What was once $6.5 million would now be $11 million, and so on. Though several franchise-shifting stars are available (on paper, at least) as free agents this summer, most expect those behemoths to stay with their current teams – thus creating a player’s market due to the confluence of limited options and a league that (technically, without getting into a pedantic discussion surrounding cap holds and expected re-signings and option pick-ups) will feature 30 out of 30 NBA teams all under the salary cap come July.
Shorter read: Toss in all the dumb-dumb contracts that overeager NBA owners talk themselves into in July and August that we’ve seen throughout lo these many years, when every team is tied for first and the crisp AC is crankin’ inside the chartered jet, and it’s going to be the greatest summer ever! One we’ll recall fondly in a few years, when the same owners are crying poverty during another NBA lockout.
Mark Cuban may be a little overeager on the literal NBA sidelines, but even during his whirlwind first year as team owner he kept things rather sensible. Yes, he ended up dealing for Juwan Howard’s massive contract during his first full season with the Mavs, but that was a sound basketball move that the business side of him could afford – not just because of Cuban’s personal bank account, but because of Steve Nash’s modest deal and with Dirk Nowitzki still on his rookie contract.
Cuban’s biggest moves during his first offseason with new toy in hand were trading for Christian Laettner, Loy Vaught and Howard Eisley, while tossing a few million in cash considerations around in order to grease the wheels of rotation-building. This is a man that cannot show restraint on the court, but certainly can while off of it.
What Cuban is suggesting, and what the league and its fans should hope for, is some actual free agent negotiations this time around. Not everyone should be either slated for as much as they can possibly make, or an exponential increase of what The Guy That Plays A Lot Like Me made last summer.
That can possibly cause some hurt feelings, as nothing (not minutes, shot attempts, endorsement popularity, or points per game) in this league causes as much discontent as actual salary frustration. Still, NBA history has proven that those feelings tend to go away a few months later when the season is in full swing and Player X is making however many millions per year. Or, better for the player, working on a one-year deal that allows him the flexibility and freedom to shop his services yet again during the 2017 offseason.
That’s the process that many expect LeBron, Durant and possibly Dwyane Wade to work through this summer and next, and not only is it the process that Cuban is suggesting that owners might attempt to emulate, but it’s the process that many less-famous free agents might attempt to work through this summer.
Security is always key, and players usually opt for the familiarity and comfort of four or five years as opposed to “we can do this again next summer,” but that option is there for both player and team. Remember, this is the league that gave Wes Matthews four years and $70 million after he tore his Achilles – an injury few come back from at full strength. Hell, the guy that just put a penny on the tracks to derail the Money Train – Dallas’ Mark Cuban – was the guy that gave Wes Matthews (a player and person we respect to no end) that much guaranteed money.
We will never be accused of siding with ownership, but a collective “not so fast” from the league’s various front offices would not act as collusion. Mike Conley won’t have to play for the league minimum as he works his way back from leg issues, as Andre Dawson did have to as a result of MLB’s illegal batch of behind the scenes work in 1987, but it also might not be in any team’s best interest to sign a (nearly) 29-year old coming off of a season-ending injury, one who has never made an All-Star team, to a maximum deal.
There might, shock horror, be some haggling – even though NBA players deserve every penny (and more) that they’re able to take out of the collective pie.
The issue here is that it only takes one team. And because for years NBA owners have been a bit daft, there have been plenty of those teams to go around. That’s been the assumption since the rumblings about the new TV deal and rising cap hit in early 2014.
That’s why Mark Cuban, in a bit of discussion, merely called the idea of rolling over cap space and big spending “interesting” presuming that “it happens.” He wasn’t throwing off the scent, telling Nicolas Batum that he should rent instead of buy, he’s just musing aloud prior to what could be league-shifting summer for the NBA.
Not for the sheer amount number of stars available, as was the case in 1996. It’s for the maddening amount of mistakes that could be made.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
