March 2017 Basketball Wiretap

Warriors Could Face $300M In Combined Salary, Tax By 19-20

May 31, 2017 6:34 PM

The Golden State Warriors could have a completely unprecedented level of salary and luxury tax in the coming seasons.

Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are each expected to sign for 35 percent max contracts as soon as this offseason, or the 2018 offseason in the case of Durant.

Draymond Green and Klay Thompson will also likely sign new max contracts in the coming seasons.

By 19-20 and 20-21, the Warriors' combined salary and tax could equal $300 million per season.

The Warriors move into a new arena in downtown San Francisco in time for the 19-20 season.

Bobby Marks/The Vertical

Tags: Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA Misc Rumor, NBA CBA

Discuss
NBA Playoff Ratings Up 4 Percent, Local Regular Season Games Down 14 Percent

May 31, 2017 11:52 AM

There have been concerns that the lack of competitive balance displayed in the 2017 NBA Playoffs is bad for the league.

Playoff ratings on television are up four percent from last season. The NBA's broadcast partners aren't as anxious about the current lack of parity as team officials.

"We saw a very deep, very competitive regular season that played out positively from our perspective on how fans reacted," says Burke Magnus, ESPN's executive vice president of programming and scheduling.

While superteams help national rankings, local ratings sometimes suffer as a result. NBA ratings on regional sports networks were down 14 percent this season and even the Golden State Warriors dropped by 10 percent despite adding Kevin Durant. During the 15-16 season, the Warriors' ratings were boosted by their win streak to start the season and their quest for 73 wins.

"We were all wondering the same thing," says one of the GMs in attendance during a meeting at the combine in which Adam Silver discussed efforts to shorten games. "Is this because the new generation just watches highlights? Or is it because everybody knows who's going to win?"

Lee Jenkins/Sports Illustrated

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
LeBron James Fully Plans On Owning An NBA Franchise In Retirement

May 30, 2017 2:05 PM

LeBron James confirmed he has interest in owning an NBA franchise when his playing career is over.

“We’re gonna still be together,” James said of Maverick Carter, Randy Mims and agent Rich Paul. James plans on having his current partners also work with him within the front office.

“I will own a team someday,” he said to Ken Berger of The Athletic, with emphasis.  “That’s my next thing.”

While James has ventures in media and entertainment, owning an NBA franchise is something he's obsessed with.

“Why do I want to own team?” he said. “I think it’ll be cool. I’ll stay part of the game and still be able to put people in positions of power. I’ve always loved that, putting people in a position of power to feel like they can make a change and make things happen.”

Ken Berger/The Athletic

Tags: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
ESPN's NBA Layoffs Were 'Different' Than Other Sports

May 26, 2017 10:30 AM

During a lengthy piece on the evolution of ESPN's coverage of the NBA, Adi Joseph reports the layoffs in April were "different" for the NBA than the other sports the network covers.

Laying off Marc Stein, Chad Ford, Henry Abbott and several other NBA reporters were a direct result of ESPN's bigger plan to bring in Adrian Wojnarowski and several members from his team at The Vertical.

While ESPN is reducing its coverage of other sports, the NBA remains a priority for the network.

ESPN is paying $1.4 billion per season for broadcast rights for the NBA, which is 2.8 times more than the previous deal.

Adi Joseph/USA Today

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
NBPA Won Arbitration Preventing Penalizing Players For Pre-NBA Allegations

May 26, 2017 9:59 AM

The NBA sent a memo to all 30 teams last summer instructing any team considering signing one of two players that had been accused of sexual assault or domestic assault.

Teams were told about the allegations and that the players could face discipline from the league even though they were not members of the NBA at the time of the incident.

The National Basketball Players Association filed an arbitration claim arguing that the memo had a chilling effect, and that the league had overstepped its bounds. The arbitrator agreed with the union that the league could not fine or suspend the players going forward based on prior allegations.

The NBA sent a follow-up memo clarifying that after the ruling.

The union shared the results of the arbitration at seminars with player agents in recent weeks.

In the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, the league can issue discipline before a legal resolution is reached. The CBA also calls for the creation of a "policy committee" composed of league and union representatives, plus independent experts, to oversee treatment for players who have been subject to discipline or criminally convicted. 

Zach Lowe/ESPN

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
Playoffs Could Have Fewest Games In Expanded Format Era, Bring Down Cap

May 26, 2017 9:37 AM

The 2017 NBA Playoffs will have one of the fewest number of game since the first round was expanded from a five-game series to a seven-game series in 2003.

Depending on the length of The Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, there will be anywhere between 78 games and 81 games.

If only 78 games are played, it will be the shortest playoffs of the era, while 81 games would be tied for second shortest.

With fewer games, the NBA will have less revenue from gate receipts and that will likely bring the cap down further from the current projection of $101 million.

The Warriors have had the highest per game gate receipts in the playoffs over the past three seasons and have only played six home games heading into The Finals. In 2016, they played 10 home games with the first two series going five games and the Western Conference Finals going seven.

Albert Nahmad/Heat Hoops

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA, NBA Playoffs

Discuss
GMs Discuss Rules Pertaining To Trade Deadline, Buyout Process

May 11, 2017 4:03 AM

NBA general managers met on Wednesday in Chicago at the pre-draft combine.

Two topics the GMs discussed are the date of the trade deadline and the buyout/waiver process.

Players must be bought out just a few days after the trade deadline to become playoff eligible.

Deron Williams, Andrew Bogut and Matt Barnes are just a few of the players that were bought out in late February to join title contenders.

The NBA previously changed a rule to prevent teams from using their own players to help facilitate a trade and then re-sign them once they're waived. The Cavaliers used this loophole in 2010 to trade for Antwan Jamison and then re-sign Zydrunas Ilgauskas. 

Adrian Wojnarowski/The Vertical

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
Michele Roberts: Jackson Deliberately Tried To Shame Carmelo Out Of New York

May 3, 2017 4:07 PM

Michele Roberts spoke candidly about the public comments Phil Jackson made about Carmelo Anthony during his press conference at the end of the New York Knicks' season.

“I think Phil was deliberately trying to shame ‘Melo out of the city,” she told The Vertical. Anthony has a no-trade clause, which means the Knicks need his approval to move on from him.

Roberts wanted the NBA to sanction Jackson as they have when players have made similar comments.

Roberts had immediately flashed back to September 2015, when Markieff Morris, then with the Suns, was fined $10,000 for tweeting, “My future is not in Phoenix,” after twin brother Marcus was dealt to Detroit. Commissioner Adam Silver’s office decided that was a “public statement detrimental to the NBA.”

When Jackson, speaking to New York’s beat reporters for the first time since September, said, among other things, that Anthony “would be better off somewhere else,” Roberts wondered what's the difference.

“I have players who are unhappy that this hasn’t been responded to by the league,” Roberts told The Vertical.

Anthony aside, that is the wider view, she said, “for when another GM gets it in his head that it’s OK to treat a player this way because Phil got away with it.”

Roberts is bothered by the double standard.

“Our players understand that they can privately complain about how a team is managed but they cannot do it publicly without being subject to sanction,” she said. “But it has to work both ways. If Phil tells ‘Melo in private that being in New York is not a good fit for him, that’s his right. But these comments were made in public, and it’s very disturbing because Phil gave him the no-trade clause and he has to respect it. He’s got to allow a player to make a decision for any reason – to win a ring, for money, home life, whatever.”

 

Harvey Araton/The Vertical

Tags: Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks, NBA, NBA Trade Rumor, NBA Misc Rumor, NBA CBA

Discuss
Ratings For First Round Of NBA Playoffs Up On ABC/ESPN

May 2, 2017 5:22 PM

Ratings for the 2017 NBA Playoffs are up for both ABC and NBATV over the first round.

ESPN and ABC have enjoyed double-digit gains while ABC's first round is the most watched since 2011.

ABC delivered 5,447,000 average viewers (p2+), up 11 percent from 4,915,000 average viewers (p2+) last season.

NBA TV's first round programming is up 15 percent.

 

RealGM Staff Report

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss