New rules have been implemented.
The rules put in place hurt teams that spend a lot of money on players.
It would be a bizarre concept in any other business. Putting a cap on what employees can earn?
Aside from being bad for player income and opposed to a free-market this cap has an un-intended consequence.
If you haven’t already guessed by the title, it is:
Player development.
This will hurt winning teams that compensate their players for their performance.
A prime example is the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors in the past year have unloaded James Wiseman, Patrick Baldwin Jr and Ryan Rollins.
Now these players may never become NBA regulars. But they most definitely won’t with the Golden State Warriors.
James Wiseman already looks like he’s been given the opportunity to develop with the Detroit Pistons.
Why can’t they develop with the Warriors? The cap.
Rookie contracts come with guaranteed minimums and guaranteed increases in pay per year. A team like the Warriors who are trying to win now can’t keep players they drafted and would like to develop on their roster. They’re expensive and they don’t provide much current value. That’s a big part of why they traded for a 38 year old Chris Paul who can play and shipped out two guys that can’t yet legally drink. They dump layers like Patrick Baldwin Jr and Ryan Rollins because they can’t afford to wait and hope they develop. They were able to wait with and develop Jordan Poole (who was incidentally part of the trade for Chris Paul) while the Warriors had a couple down years.
The NBA benefits when smart organizations develop their players. Many would have questioned what the Warriors Organization saw in Poole. But now we can see he’s an electrifying and entertaining young player. Now, the Warriors are a team that faces huge tax penalties and are stuck dumping potential talent that would have benefitted from being in a well-run system with great players, coaching, staff, management and ownership.
What’s a solution? In my opinion an open market. No cap! I never understood salary cap outside of helping small markets compete. That seems like less of an issue now as we’ve seen teams like the Denver Nuggets, The Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors win Championships in recent years before the new rules come into affect. It really hurts players potential earnings. It’s obvious it hurts player development because drafted players that don’t produce immediately for winning teams become toxic contracts.
Furthermore paying big sums of money for star players isn’t a guaranteed path to success. Just look at the Los Angeles Clippers.
Admitting a salary cap is the wrong idea would be a tuff pill to swallow for the NBA’s management.
An in-between solution may be not counting rookie scale contracts against the salary cap or counting them at a reduced rate. The NBA, Players and ultimately fans would benefit.
