As NBA insiders go, few are as well-versed in the league’s goings-on at every level from the top down than David Falk, hero to bald men nationwide and an agent in the league for more than 35 years. At his agency’s height in the mid-’90s, he was representing Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, and Dikembe Mutombo, among many others. So suffice it to say that if he’s got an opinion on the business side of the NBA, you should be paying very close attention.
(Why yes, he IS selling a book right now! What about the alarmist statements gave that away, aside from EVERYTHING?)
What Falk does have to say is not very good. At all. According to the NEW YORK TIMES, there’s a storm brewing when the collective bargaining agreement expires in 2011: the players already don’t like the deal, and the owners are going to want to trim way back as their franchises hemorrage money. The result: EXTREME KAYAKING STANDOFF!
“I think it’s going to be very, very extreme,” Falk said, “because I think that the times are extreme.”
How extreme? Falk said he believed Stern, the commissioner, would push for a hard salary cap, shorter contracts, a higher age limit on incoming players, elimination of the midlevel cap exception and an overall reduction in the players’ percentage of revenue. And, Falk said, Stern will probably get what he wants.
This is bad, bad, bad news; when the owners collectively decide that it’s no longer worth their time and effort to field basketball teams, then the bubble has not just popped, it has burst into flames and incinerated everything on it, including the players, fans, and cheerleaders (oh god, not the cheerleaders).
Falk’s advice to the players is to capitulate to just about all of the owners’ demands; they hold all the leverage at this point, since it’s questionable whether it’s in their best interests at all to maintain franchises in the NBA as they’re currently structured. While it sucks for the players to see their salary structures, for the most part, slashed and burned, it’s a necessary correction after years and years of inflated contracts for middling veterans (Wally Szczerbiak, we are staring directly at you on this one).
This sort of impasse hurts fans the worst. Most of us just want to sit in a gym and watch these guys play some ball instead of reading about fights over money. It took steroids a magical home run chase by two steroided gallant batsmen on steroids to bring baseball back after years of bitter avoidance from fans after a strike that ended one season. If the NBA shuts down for much longer than that, there may not be a saleable product when they get back on the hardwood. And that would be a more devastating catastrophe for American sports than any economic downturn could ever create.
2:43 pm on February 23rd, 2009
This isn't the mid-90s, its the 2000s. The league will do just fine without any work stoppages.
2:54 pm on February 23rd, 2009
Isn't the NBA slowly on it's way out of the national sports consciousness, anyway?
5:56 pm on February 23rd, 2009
Sh*tcan half the teams and retain only the cream of the crop players and have a seeded draft.
The league would flourish and the no loads would be out the door parking cars for a living instead of getting huge paychecks for subpar performance. Hell, half the players cant even hit 6 freethrows without a miss. 80% shoot the 3 at under 30%. This league is so watered down it's an abomination. I have not paid a dime to the NBA in years!
8:46 pm on February 23rd, 2009
Oh no, we'll be left with 4 yr , $0 salary college students playing their hearts out for only 30 some games per season. What will we do?
12:43 pm on February 24th, 2009
Both sides are too greedy for that to happen but it probably needs to happen. They could take those two years and determine OKC, Sacramento, NJ, Milwaukee, and Memphis are all bad ideas. Implode those franchises and hold a dispersal draft to get rid of the excess players. Next step would be a two year training program so that the refs could relearn the rules, recognize traveling and count to three. They could change the lane to the international lane. During the down time the players could actually hold 9 to 5 type jobs so they would remember how good they had it making $3 million a year. They could also work on ball handling, shooting, and other fundamental skills besides chest bumping, and screaming after a routine shot is made.
2:30 pm on February 24th, 2009
If this is the first step toward contraction, bring it on. League has 8 or so decent/good teams right now and the rest are uninteresting. As a fading fan, I would gladly give up two years if the resulting product is improved.
10:05 pm on February 24th, 2009
Let the NBA lock itself out. I won't miss it.
4:14 am on February 25th, 2009
in these comments: angry white men