On Oct. 6, the NBA announced the much anticipated, lucrative national TV deals with ESPN and TNT that will come into effect for the 2016-2017 season. The new deals, which last through the 2024-2025 season, will pay the NBA $2.66 billion annually, a massive increase that triples the $930 million of the current deal.
The mind-boggling $24 billion deal is expected to increase the league salary cap, and not by modest numbers. The salary cap for next season is projected to be around $66 million; when the new deal kicks in for the 2016-17 season, it could leap to somewhere around $80 million. In all its years, the NBA has never witnessed a one-year increase such as this. In fact, the previous record is a $7.1 million upswing in 1996, half of the expected leap with this network deal.
The entire league is preparing for this unprecedented change. Teams are signing players to long-term deals, expecting that they will become undervalued based on the adapted standards. The Phoenix Suns signed point guard Eric Bledsoe to a 5-year, $70 million contract that may appear ludicrous right now, but it will begin to make sense with the cap increase. In his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James signed a contract for just two years, with the max contract value likely to surge. Teams are clearing cap space in anticipation of a super-active free agency, with names like Kevin Durant and Al Horford entering the market.
But this piece of fortune for the NBA will not come without conflict. In the 2011 lockout, players felt they were disadvantaged by the new collective bargaining agreement formed. The players' share of the basketball-related income had shrunk from 57 percent to just 50 percent, and the new harsher luxury tax discouraged owners from spending over the cap limit.
With a possible lockout awaiting in 2016, the players are ready to fight back this time.
“The whole thing that went on with the last negotiation process was the owners was telling us that they were losing money,” LeBron James said. “There's no way they can sit in front of us and tell us that right now after we continue to see teams selling for billions of dollars, being purchased for $200 million, [selling] for $550 [million], $750 [million], $2 billion. ... So, that will not fly with us this time."
This sentiment is shared among most players, and they have every right to feel this way. Players are pressured, both by the CBA and the general public, to be selfless and take less money than they can negotiate for, while the billionaire owners who pay them are profiting like never before.
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers was scrutinized by many critics for signing a two-year, $48 million extension at the age of 36, being called selfish.
"Most of us have aspirations for being businessmen when our playing careers are over,” Bryant said. “But that starts now. You have to be able to wear both hats. You can't sit up there and say, 'Well, I'm going to take substantially less because there's public pressure, because all of a sudden, if you don't take less, you don't give a crap about winning."
Players should have the right to negotiate for what they are worth as proper business partners to their franchises. Accepting what teams are willing to offer them should not come with the stigma of being indifferent to the success of the team. That responsibility falls to the owners and the GMs.
Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Durant recently inked a shoe deal with Nike that could earn him up to $300 million over 10 years; that is the kind of value that these players can bring, and should be allowed to leverage for.
Yet the public disagrees. When Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh signed max contracts this offseason, many people saw them as "money grabbers", cashing in for more than they should be earning. Imbedded in this general mindset is a hidden narrative that these players should be grateful for the opportunity that these teams are giving them, and that they should be returning this favor by taking less money.
If anything, it should be the other way around. The most crucial piece for the profit of these teams and owners is the on-court talent. There is just a handful of talented basketball players in the world that people will pay to watch; they should be the ones with the upper hand. Kobe Bryant recognizes that. LeBron James recognizes that.
The new TV deal is the perfect opportunity for players to take back what they deserve. Leaders like LeBron James will make sure they do: "I am the kind of the guy that has the power, I guess, without even having to put a name on it. I'm very educated and I will use what I have to make sure our players are taken care of," he said.
