Thursday marked the first of 12 payroll deductions by the NBA, which will ultimately represent a 10 percent chunk of each player's salary. The money will be placed in an escrow account and if, at the end of the season, the players' portion of all NBA revenue exceeds 55 percent the escrow collection will be divvied equally between all 29 NBA teams. Early estimates say the payback, which is expected, will be about $6 million per team.

For Smith, scheduled to make $4.538 million this season that means giving back $453,800. Star forward Kevin Garnett will give back $2.24 million of his $22.4 million. Point guard Terrell Brandon, who will make $9.25 million, will give back $925,000.

The escrow system was a concession won by the owners during the 1999 lockout. That and the luxury tax system were methods by which the league hoped to control its spiraling payrolls.

"We made a deal," said veteran forward Sam Mitchell, the team's union representative who will lose $100,000 this season. "Got to stick to the deal. That's the way it is. I'm sure there are things about the deal the owners didn't like the first (three) years, but that's the way it is.

"Hey, we had to give up something. We struck the best deal we could at the time."