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You're a mean one, Mr. Stern Luxury tax has made free agency a bit less frenzied
Updated: Thursday August 23, 2001 5:19 PM
It's supposed to be the NBA's version of Christmas in July. Except this year there aren't going to be many presents under the tree for NBA fans. Like The Grinch, the impending luxury tax has crept into the house and stolen much of the excitement from this year's free agent signing period, which officially tips off today. Antonio Davis, Dikembe Mutombo, Allan Houston, Michael Finley, David Robinson, Jerome Williams, Aaron McKie, Doug Christie. All are big-name free agents who could have been snatched up on the open market. Instead each has decided to re-up with his current club. It's all part of David Stern's grand plan to hold down salaries, and it has worked like a Stockton-to-Malone pick and roll. Last year we had Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Eddie Jones switching uniforms. This year, we get Eddie Robinson and Todd MacCulloch. "There are very few teams with salary cap room this year," Bucks GM Ernie Grunfeld said. "So there's less movement ... And teams are very concerned about the luxury tax and its ramifications, not only this year, but down the road as well." The luxury tax, which begins this season, requires that any team that exceeds a certain payroll (expected to be around $54 million) pay a dollar-for-dollar penalty to the league. Only the Mavericks, Blazers and Knicks are willing to pay it right now. The NBA's other 26 clubs insist they will avoid it at all costs. In a free market, players like Chris Webber, Mutombo, Davis and Houston would be fielding calls from numerous suitors. With the salary cap and luxury tax, however, they are finding their options severely limited. Teams that don't have money under the cap can't make a competitive offer. If they try to do a sign-and-trade, they often bump into the luxury tax. The restricted movement is just what Stern & Co. intended when they forced the lockout in '98 that cost half the season. By convincing the players to agree to the salary cap and luxury tax (in return for heftier minimum salaries and a larger share of the revenue pie), the league kept salaries from spiraling out of control while helping clubs hang on to their own superstars. "Continuity is important, too," Grunfeld noted. "Fans get attached to teams and players." The luxury tax also should help create parity, since it makes it harder for teams to stockpile talent. The Sixers, for example, will likely let MacCulloch go to the Nets because they don't want to pay the luxury tax. "The playing field is leveling out," former Nets GM John Nash says. "It's going to be hard for a really good team to keep all its players and not pay the luxury tax." The result for elite free agents like Webber is fewer teams rolling out the red carpets and stretch limos. For fans, it means less offseason movement to create interest and inspire hope. Though the occasional Jason Kidd-Stephon Marbury blockbuster will still take place, it might soon be the only way elite players change teams. Is such lack of movement good or bad for the game? Who knows? But it certainly makes the free agent period a lot less fun. Marty Burns covers pro basketball for CNNSI.com. Click here to send Marty a question or comment.
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