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The Golden State Warriors signing DeMarcus Cousins on a one-year contract worth $ 5.3 million, some fear that the conclusion of the NBA season from 18 to 19 has already been scheduled: the Warriors, with All-Star players starting five positions and with a deep bench, are ready to easily repeat as the champions of the NBA. That's not to say that they will win every game. The Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers are all going to fight. They can even defeat the Warriors in a game or two during the 2019 playoffs. None, however, seems to have survived the Warriors in a seven-game series. And if the Warriors get another title, they will have won four of the last five finals in the NBA.
It makes sense that the competitive equilibrium – an essential ingredient for the long-term health of the NBA – is compromised by creating what looks more like an All-Star team than an NBA franchise . Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and, when he returns from injury, Cousins will be one of the most talented queues in the 72-year history of the NBA . In fact, upon learning of the Cousins' signature, an anonymous player went as far as to joke about writer Alex Kennedy: "They might as well cancel the NBA season. Can we just get our salaries for the year now? "
Expressing a similar sentiment, Los Angeles Clippers goalkeeper Lou Williams suggested that the NBA change its playoff format so that the top 16 teams and not the top eight teams from each conference
That goes without saying , but sometimes even the best – designed plans fail – the Warriors could face injuries to several star players – look at the Celtics last season by losing Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward Cousins, meanwhile, must also recover from injury. a left Achilles torn apart and then integrate into the attack of Steve Kerr.
Still, the chances strongly favor the warriors. So, if the Warriors actually become the Harlem Globetrotters of the NBA while the 29 other teams turn into various incarcerations of Washington's generals, should the NBA take steps to consolidate rival teams so that the s fans do not go away
?
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• First, Article XIV of the collective agreement between the NBA and the National Basketball Players' Association prevents the NBA to conspire with any team to direct players to this team. Article XIV is the anti-collusion provision of the league. It forbids agreements between several teams, or between the NBA and at least one team, to negotiate or not to negotiate with a player. Article XIV also prohibits the NBA office from knowingly communicating or disclosing to any team that another team is negotiating with a free agent. In other words, the league office can not act "in cahoots" with any team regarding the movement of players.
• Second, the NBA constitution states that the league and the commissioner must be fair and impartial. with regard to team matters. Article 24 of the Constitution stresses that the Commissioner is "charged with protecting the integrity of professional basketball and preserving public confidence in the League". If the public believed that Silver orchestrated player transactions behind the scenes, it assured the audience that teams have complete autonomy in crafting trades and signing players into ABC's parameters, public trust in the league would be eroded. Sponsors of the broadcast and businesses would also raise concerns.
Silver is surely reminiscent of the criticism that his predecessor, David Stern, encountered when the NBA bought the New Orleans Hornets in 2010 and ran the franchise until it was sold to Tom Benson. pelican). While acting both as NBA commissioner and de facto Hornets general manager, Stern denied a draft deal involving Chris Paul and the Lakers. Stern was criticized for his conflict of interest: it was expected that he would watch for the best interests of the NBA and the best interests of one team at a time when these two sets interests are not entirely congruent.
recent history of the league on the pursuit of fair play. The NBA has periodically battled issues of integrity – including regarding concerns about NBA teams for a better draft and rest of the healthy players before the playoffs, as well as for a referee. the NBA (Tim Donaghy) spread points. The league has taken aggressive action to combat activities that are both anti-competitive and inconsistent with the way the NBA markets games to consumers. To this end, the NBA has incorporated owners and instant replay teams and fines to defend star players. These measures have all been designed to promote fair play and real competition. The NBA would not want to undermine these efforts by raising new questions about integrity.
• Third, the NBA is a joint venture of independent teams that all want to "win". Winning, of course, does not always mean winning now : some teams want to win now while others prefer the "process" to lose in the short run to win later. Either way, no team would support a commissioner who favors the competitive interests of a team and tries to manipulate player transactions in order to benefit that team. In this sense, the NBA is not the WWE, where the fights are scripted. It's also not like the XFL, which is a single-entity sports league which means that the XFL has all the XFL teams and employs all the XFL players, or Major League Soccer, which was a single entity for years. sports league but more recently resembled a traditional sports league . If the owners of a league felt that their commissioner was not an honest broker, they would explore ways to keep it away or, at least, to limit that person's authority.
• Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, the warriors The NBA season's historic list of 18 to 19 is not the result of harmful actions or tricks commercial. It is the result of labor policies that have been created by legal and transparent processes, warriors' front office management and the preferences of star players who value the chance to win above all else.
the lines, NBA owners and players all agreed to play by many rules that have an impact on profits and that are expressed in the ABC. These rules (better explained by ABC expert, Larry Coon) have various limitations on the amount that teams can spend on players' salaries. The ABC also contains important exceptions to these limitations. For example, Article VII of the CBA includes the exception "veteran free agent", more commonly known as the "Larry Bird exception". It allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign players who meet certain criteria. Owners and players also discussed changes to the ABC to account for the unexpected influx of television revenue. A few years ago, for example, the NBA suggested to players that annual increases in the salary cap and salary floor occur on a "smooth" rather than an uneven slope to compensate for dramatic increases in television revenues ( the players' association rejected this proposal).
Rules affecting players' NBA income also do not require players to maximize their NBA income. Take LeBron James. By signing with the Lakers, James will be subject to California's 13.3% income tax rate, the highest rate among the 50 states (California's high rate is even more impactful). $ 10,000 the amount of money that taxpayers who detail their deductions can deduct from their federal income taxes on the payment of national and local taxes). Even though James does not get rid of the money lost in the California cash through higher income, his primary goal in signing with the Lakers was probably not to maximize his NBA winnings. He obviously wants to win with the Lakers. In addition, it seems that James and his family are interested in moving their lives to Los Angeles, where they own two homes. Maybe James also has an eye on post-career opportunities in the entertainment capital of the world. Whatever the case may be, the most important is that it is not always a question of money.
Similarly, with Cousins, he may have been able to sign a much more lucrative contract when he was expecting a bit of free agency. Although reports indicate that the Warriors were the only team that offered him an agreement, it is unclear whether he would have received more lucrative offers in the days and weeks ahead. While Cousins comes back from a serious injury, he remains one of the most dominant offensive players in the league. Still just 27, the ex-Kentucky's 6 "11" averaged 25 points and 13 rebounds per game in season 17 to 18. Cousins signed with the Warriors probably because He would not pay him the most money (especially given the high taxes and the high cost of living in California.) It's because he wants to earn a title. It is difficult to blame a player for giving priority to the conquest of money
Finally, it is not clear that the NBA The Warriors remain almost unbeatable. The NBA rankings were in last season at a time when the Warriors excelled and in the United States as in the rest of the world, the game still seems popular.
If the perception that the 18-18 season will be a competition for the title of vice-champion, the NBA and the NBPA will report and take action, they will be able to negotiate economic adjustments to the CBA, either by amending the CBA or under a new collective agreement t The ABC extends over the 2020-21 season). Such adjustments, such as those that produce a higher but more difficult salary cap, could make it more difficult for NBA CEOs to form "super teams". Collective bargaining works best: management and work identify and adopt mutually beneficial solutions. 19659003] Michael McCann is the legal analyst of SI. He is also Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of New Hampshire and Publisher and Co-Writer of Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law and Justice of the Court: l & # History of my battle against the NCAA .
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