NBA Chat with Larry Coon 5/14/2015
Larry_Coon_ChatLarry Coon the noted author of the CBAFAQ, will answer your Salary Cap and Collective Bargaining Agreement questions. Larry will answers your questions about the Salary Cap, NBA trades and the CBA at 3:00pm et
tim
What’ does Anthony Davis’ next contract look like?
Larry Coon
He’ll get the max for sure (unless something catastrophic happens between now and then), which should start at around $20.8 million for a 0-6 year player.
Manuel
Your over under(3.5) for the share that the players will demand from (BRI) in the next lock out??
Will the spike in salary cap produce a chain reaction between the teams looking for middle FA?
Larry Coon
The players’ narrative is that they took one for the league in the last negotiation — they already were at 57 percent, but the league was unsustainable at that time due to a variety of factors. By agreeing to 50 percent, they helped right the ship and make it sustainable. Today it’s a different picture — most teams are in the black (and when teams aren’t it’s a result of mismanagement), improved revenue sharing has fixed a lot of the problems, team valuations have skyrocketed (hello, Steve Ballmer), and the league is going to be drowning in new money starting next year with the new TV deal. In other words, the problems are fixed, the emergency is over, and they want to regain what they gave up in the last negotiation. I can see them coming to the table asking for a return of their previous 57 percent.
The one interesting thing about the mid-level exceptions is that they aren’t tied to revenues. They are a fixed amount for the life of the agreement. For example, the non-taxpayer mid-level will be about $5.63 million in 2016, up from about $5.46 million, even though the cap is expected to rise by about $22 million. With the cap going up that far (and with teams having 2016 circled on their calendars), there will be plenty of cap room to go around. The top-level free agents will get the max, of course. But there will be so much cap room left over and so much competition, that the next tier of players will get the max as well, and probably the tier after that. By that point you’re probably looking at what you’d consider to be mid-level talent. So the price of mid-tier talents will likely go up significantly.
The remaining teams — those without cap room — will still have their exceptions, but the talent won’t be there to spend it on. However, since the exceptions didn’t go up commensurate with the increase in the cap, these exceptions will now be value contracts — i.e., the lower-tier players will receive what is currently mid-level money.
However, we won’t be able to project how this will actually play out until later this year, when the 2015 free agents have all signed and we can see how teams are aligned heading into 2016.
Ryan PDX
I’ve been hearing from multiple places that the 5-year extension sign and trade is no longer available. Is this true? Specifically looking to see if the Blazers are able to facilitate a LaMarcus move and get something in return. Thanks Larry, really appreciate these chats and the FAQ!
Larry Coon
First, let’s clarify terms — there’s no such thing (and never was) as an “extension sign-and-trade.” Extensions are only for players under contract, and extensions are signed before the player becomes a free agent. Free agent signings, including sign-and-trade, are only for players whose previous contract ended. Since your question is about sign-and-trade, I’m going to ignore the word “extension” in your question.
Prior to the 2011 CBA, teams could give their own players with bird Rights six years with 10.5% raises, could give other teams’ players (and their own players with non-Bird rights) five years and 7.5% raises, and sign-and-trade followed Bird rights — i.e., the team could give their player with Bird rights six years and 10.5% raises in a sign-and-trade. This meant that when a player was changing teams, he could get more in a sign-and-trade with his old team than he could get by signing directly with his new team — i.e., the league provided an incentive for seeking a sign-and-trade.
In the new CBA the raises and percentages were reduced — re-signing with Bird rights allowed five years and 7.5% raises, while signing other teams’ free agents allowed four years and 4.5% raises. They also fundamentally changed how sign-and-trade worked — it no longer followed Bird rights, and instead followed the rule for signing other teams’ free agents, allowing four years and 4.5% raises.
This means that players no longer have an incentive to seek a sign-and-trade if their desired team has enough cap room to sign them, because they can no longer get an extra year and bigger raises in a sign-and-trade. The only incentive for players to seek a sign-and-trade is when the other team doesn’t have enough cap room, and through the trade overhead (a team can acquire more salary than they send away in a trade) or trading away enough salary to finish under the cap after the sign-and-trade, they can acquire the player at his desired salary.
This has had an effect on the league already. When Cleveland lost LeBron James to Miami, they effectively received a compensation package from the in return for doing a sign-and-trade. But when Miami lost James back to the Cavs, the Heat received nothing in return.
As for Portland and Aldridge, it’s likely the only way the Blazers will be able to get something in return is if Aldridge wants to go to a team that won’t have the cap room to sign him without the Blazers’ help.
Elijah Adefope
As someone who is planning on becoming a certified nba advisor, what level of familiarity with the cba would you recommend I have before I sign a client?
Larry Coon
I’ve talked to agents who have the CBA down cold, and I’ve talked to agents who frequently come to me for advice on anything beyond the basics — so there’s a spectrum of knowledge out there. That said, in my opinion, the more you know the CBA, the better you can serve your clients. Most teams have it down cold, and are able to use it to their advantage in negotiations. Former agent and current Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro said that when he was an agent, his goal was to understand the CBA better than the front office people on the other side of the table.
Tim
The Players’ Union plans to audit five NBA teams. Do you think they will find any accounting practices that violate the CBA, depriving the players of income?
Larry Coon
I imagine they’ll find stuff to quibble about — in 30 large financial statements, how could you not? Some things related to amortization of a portion of purchase expenses, and/or related party transactions will likely surface. The question is, if something is allowed per generally accepted accounting practices and the CBA, then what recourse does the PA have? At best it’d just give them things to talk about in the next negotiation.
Charlie
Looking back, how would you characterize David Stern’s reign as commissioner? The league obviously has grown tremendously and is one of the best in major league sports, but keep in mind his major blunders (e.g. Chris Paul “basketball reasons”, multiple lockouts, conspiracy theories, Patrick Ewing to NY…).
Larry Coon
I was a critic of “basketball reasons” (because Stern installed Jac Sperling specifically so he could stay at arm’s length from the then-Hornets-now-Pelicans and avoid any conflict of interest, and then stepped in when he shouldn’t have), but the rest? Come on…
Charlie
Which team wins the championship this year?
Larry Coon
I’ve had the Warriors winning this for a long time.
Charlie
Early guess for next year’s rookie of the year? Is julius randle eligible?
Larry Coon
Julius Randle is NOT eligible, by virtue of his 14 minutes played in the Lakers’ season opener (Nerlens Noel was eligible this year, and Blake Griffin won it in 2010-11, after missing their entire rookie seasons due to injury). With the caveat that it’s WAY too early to guess (especially for someone like me who doesn’t follow the college game in depth), I’m going to make the unimaginative prediction that Okafor will be ROY.
