The NBA this week announced a new nine-year television deal and digital rights extension that is expected to be worth $2.66 billion annually. That’s more than three times the amount of the league’s current TV deal, which means the salary cap and max contract limits will soon be going up. Or, as some players have suggested, the concept of a max contract could be disappearing.
Kevin Durant suggested on Tuesday that there should be no restriction on how much the NBA’s top players can earn because those players already generate more revenue for their cities than they are compensated for. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is open to doing away with Max contracts, but he thinks guaranteed contract should go with them.
“If you give up guarantees, it’s a trade-off,” Cuban said, via NBA.com’s Jeff Caplan.
Cuban believes the NBA should move to the NFL model, where there is a salary cap but guaranteed money is not determined by the collective bargaining agreement. NFL teams are free to pay individual players as much as they please, and the portion of the contract that is guaranteed is determined by the player and team.
“It was discussed during the lockout time among owners, but never got anywhere,” Cuban added. “So it was just one of those trial balloons. I’m not offering this as a negotiation, I’m not suggesting it, all I’m saying is that was something we discussed before, and max contracts are always big question, guarantees are always a big question. But we have two years before that’s even an issue, so no point discussing it now.”
As it stands now, NBA contracts are fully guaranteed unless the parties agree to other terms. Cuban’s suggestion probably won’t be popular among the players, but the owners will like it. If max contracts disappear, it might make sense.
