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Stop the inanity
A modest proposal to end the lockout and get the NBA back in the game
Posted: Wednesday October 28, 1998 03:28 PM
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Illustration by Fred Harper |
By Jackie MacMullan
In
July,
when the NBA lockout began, there were several unanswered
questions. Would players agree to be tested for marijuana?
Would the owners consider raising the minimum for veterans?
Would both sides agree to a modified rookie salary cap? The
answers, it
turns out, are yes, yes and yes. When a deal is finally made,
marijuana will be added to the league's list of banned
substances. Owners will pay more to
journeyman veterans, and there could well be two unconditional
years added to the rookie cap.
Yet the core dispute over how to treat star free agents
still threatens to wipe out the season.
The owners are determined to implement a hard salary cap by
shooting down the Larry Bird exception, which allows a club
to pay any price to
re-sign a free agent who has been with the same team for three
years or more. The players say they will never accept a
hard cap.
It's difficult to weep for the 348 NBA players, whose
average pay last season was $2.6 million. Union president
Patrick Ewing says players are "fighting for their
lives." In fact, they're fighting for their second and
third Porsches. These guys are so
out of touch they staged their latest pep rally in Las Vegas.
Billy Hunter, the union's executive
director, has kept his membership unified so far, but
neither side has yet
offered a viable exit
strategy, any scenario that might lead to peace and at least a
partial 1998-99 season. Here is one for Hunter to
consider.
Rather than continuing to treat the Bird exception as holy
writ, the players should recognize the exception for what
it is: a humongous bargaining chip. The exception tends to
advance the interests of only a few players, a
superrich elite. Hunter should give it
up, and make the owners pay dearly for the concession.
On Oct. 16 management proposed that on free-agent signings
for salaries between
$2.6 million and
$10 million a luxury tax of 50% be assessed on the amount over
$2.6 million. Teams signing free agents for more than $10
million would be taxed at rates ranging from 100% to 150%
on anything exceeding $10 million. After two years, if the
players' share of
league revenue got too high, a hard cap would take effect.
The players have indicated that they would accept a luxury
tax that kicked in at
$18 million, a level that now applies only to Ewing and Michael
Jordan.
Clearly, there's room for compromise. Here's a
solution: a deal featuring a labor-friendly luxury tax on all
free-agent signings (a 50% levy on salaries greater than
$10 million might work), and no Bird exception. Even if
salaries continue to creep higher, there would be no hard
cap. Both sides could claim victory—a vital part of
any
agreement.
Issue date: November 2, 1998
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