Reporter
To be honest, I’m not at all surprised that it looks like a deal is now imminent. We’re getting close to the scheduled start of the season, and there are very few things that NBA players like more than paychecks. Sure, the superstars have built up more than enough equity to survive a few missed paychecks, but for most other guys, they just don’t have that luxury. Up until now, the players weren’t missing anything, besides tedious training camp and preseason workouts.
But now that they might lose some money? Yeah, they’re sprinting to the negotiating table to get a deal done.
On other issues for the NBA I’m somewhat torn. Owners want a hard cap and stricter regulations regarding free-agency. In other words, they don’t want to be held accountable anymore for signing overrated players to absolutely mind-boggling contracts. I think a hard cap would mostly be a good thing for the NBA. The old deal allowed for the system to be easily exploited. Teams like the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks signed a litany of veterans to mid-level exceptions and were technically way over the salary cap.
So what have NBA players been doing while they’ve been locked out? Well, playing basketball of course. A “World All-Star Classic” is set to begin in Puerto Rico, featuring numerous NBA stars. There have been many exhibition games that have been played stateside as well, featuring competitions between various summer leagues based out of Philadelphia, New York, LA, Baltimore, and DC.
There has always been a negative stigma attached to the NBA ever since the early 2000’s. Maybe this deal will be able to change that. Or, maybe it will be more of the same, a lackluster NBA regular season with a semi-intriguing playoffs.
