The current Collective Bargaining Agreement in place between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) has been a big talking point lately. Draymond Green had ripped the new CBA for ruining free agency, and his agent, Rich Paul, clarified those comments during an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
“I think what he meant by that is, I mean you’ve seen it,” Paul said. “The less of a spend… Some of that has to do with just a lot of contracted players. Teams not allowing players to get to that point, given so much movement in the prior years.
“I mean, I went through it this year with Brandon Ingram,” Paul stated. “Having him traded from New Orleans and then doing his deal during the season with the Raptors. But that’s because I felt had he got to the open market, there was not much opportunity there.
“So, he’s making $40 million a year for the next three years,” Paul continued. “That probably wouldn’t have been there for him if we get to ‘free agency.’ And I think free agency for us as a league is a very important asset. Not just contracts, but for our fan base as well.
“Free agency is that moment of connectivity and cool that we should really build around,” Paul added. “Part of that has to do with figuring out the aprons and the lack thereof flexibility for teams, which I’ll leave that up to the people that do that, but there’s also another aspect to it that could be very fan-attractive.”
Free agency has certainly lost some shine thanks to this new CBA, and Paul appears a bit concerned about that. The biggest move we have seen is Myles Turner leaving the Indiana Pacers for the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks had to take the bold measure of waiving Damian Lillard to even sign Turner, or else he was likely going to remain a Pacer as well.
Green had stated that many players do not understand what they are up against with the new rules and overplay the market. He believes there is a lack of understanding among players about the business that they are part of, which results in them mismanaging their careers.
Green wishes he had been president of the NBPA and added he would have helped a lot. Perhaps he would have tried to avoid all this apron business, which has complicated team building for general managers.
With all the harsh penalties in place for being a second-apron team, front offices now have to think twice before making any sort of significant financial commitments. Teams like the Warriors, for example, were willing to splash the cash earlier, but now have to be a lot more careful. In that way, the CBA has worked as intended.
Green had stated that the Warriors would be the last dynasty in the NBA because of the CBA. The league is now in the midst of an era of parity, and it ideally would like to stay that way.
