Lockout Limbo: The Agent
by Jackie MacMullan and Phil Taylor
Posted: Wed July 14, 1998
 Arn Tellem had planned a busy and lucrative summer. One of the
agent's star NBA clients, Antonio McDyess, was set to become a free
agent on July 1 and was poised for a big payday. Tellem had long
ago completed the prep work for Miami Heat guard Brent Barry's
foray into free agency and for the indoctrination of a prize
stable of rookies, including No. 4 pick Antawn Jamison (traded
by the Toronto Raptors to the Warriors), No. 21 Ricky Davis
(Charlotte Hornets), No. 24 Felipe Lopez (traded by the San
Antonio Spurs to the Vancouver Grizzlies) and No. 28 Corey
Benjamin (Bulls). The lockout, however, has frozen the futures
of all those players, leaving Tellem with plenty of negotiating
tactics but nobody to use them on.
Yet the agent does not fret over his most celebrated clients.
His concern centers on the less coveted free agents he
represents, such as Billy Owens (who spent last season with the
Kings) and Malik Sealy (Pistons), both of whom, Tellem claims,
are "at the heart of this labor dispute."
"The primary issue here is the shrinking middle class of NBA
players," Tellem says. "Guys like Billy and Malik are
continually getting squeezed as a result of the rulings from the
last collective bargaining agreement." Tellem points out that
each team used to be allowed exceptions to the salary cap when
players retired or were lost to free agency; a team could fill a
player's spot with a replacement at up to half the departed
player's salary. "When those were eliminated," Tellem says, "it
left the middle class with very few options except to sign on
for less than market value."
Tellem contends that if the owners have their way and a hard cap
is implemented, there could be as many as seven players on each
roster making the minimum salary, with one or two superstars per
team gobbling up the bulk of the payroll. Tellem also objects to
the use of the average NBA salary as a measuring stick. "Look
instead at the median salary," the agent says. "That's the
number that half the players are below and half the players are
above. That has been stuck between $1.4 and $1.5 million for
some time."
Tellem has rounded up a team of his clients for a pro summer
league that began last weekend in Long Beach, Calif. He is also
planning his own workout camp in August, to be run by former
Seattle SuperSonics assistant coach Tim Grgurich. For the better
part of a year, Tellem has been instructing his clients to
prepare, financially and otherwise, for a long layoff. "I told
my guys they should be ready to wait—however long it takes," he
says. "I'd much rather have two weeks to operate under an
equitable deal than six months to sign players under a bad deal."
Issue date: July 20, 1998
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