On July 1st, the NBA commenced a lockout of its players until a new collective bargaining agreement is met between them and the National Basketball Players’ Association (NBPA). During a lockout, players do not receive their salaries and teams cannot sign, negotiate or trade player contracts. Players cannot use their team’s facilities for any reason, and teams cannot conduct any kind of summer camps, practices, workouts or team meetings.
The lockout was a result of too many teams operating at huge financial losses. Financial restraints resulted in wealthier teams dominating while smaller market franchises remained bottom feeders. The league has been trying to propose restrictions that would restrict the amount of money teams could spend on players, so that all franchises would be competitive and not operate at losses. The players’ argument is that by restricting the amount of money that goes to the players, the league and owners ensure more money for themselves.
As the lockout continues, more and more players are accepting offers from European teams to go play overseas either temporarily or for an entire season. Deron Williams, a franchise player for the New Jersey Nets, has agreed to preliminary terms with a team in Turkey last week. He is the first big name in a list of players who have talked about deals with European teams should the lockout extend into next season. This exposed the fact that most, if not all, of the players in the league could just go overseas, play in Europe and wait out the lockout with minimal losses. This is similar to the way that NHL players went to play for teams in Europe during their league’s lockout in 2004-2005.
Other professional sports leagues like the NFL and NHL have so called “hard cap” systems designed to have fewer exceptions to spending limits. Even with this system, the highest-spending team in the NHL spends twice as much as the lowest-spending team in the league, and in the NFL, there is also a gap of about 70% between top and bottom. The NBA operates similarly to the NHL, with the LA Lakers spending twice as much as the Sacramento Kings; for this reason, they should focus on a cap system that has a small range between the highest and lowest spending teams. The players should ensure that a team cannot spend an abnormal amount under the cap and the owners should want a hard cap so they don’t have to spend more than they have to. Unfortunately, the players want an increase in pay and the owners want to spend less, and neither side is budging.
It is my opinion that the lockout will result in the loss of the next season in the NBA. After watching how the NHL was able to bounce back after its lockout a mere six years ago, I don’t think that the two negotiating sides are worried about time constraints. The NHL was just as popular during the 2005-2006 season as it ever was, and the belief that the NBA can pull off such a feat will extend the stalemate. This whole ordeal has no end in sight, and is a sad reminder that professional sports is a business and not driven by the competition and desire that the fans love to believe in.