NBA Salary Cap Chat With Larry Coon 11/30/12

Larry Coon the noted author of the CBAFAQ, will answer your Salary Cap and Collective Bargaining Agreement questions. Larry will answers your questions about the Salary Cap, NBA trades and the new CBA at 3:00pm

  1. Deven

    What did Commissioner Stern mean by “substantial sanctions?” And has that ever happened before?

    • Larry Coon

      I guess whether it has happened before depends on how you define it.

      I’m wondering whether it extends to suspensions, or merely fines. Suspensions certainly make more of a statement that this is unacceptable.

  2. Mattty

    Are there any indications on how satisfied or dissatisfied both sides are with the CBA now that its been effect for a while?

    Any sort of preliminary indication that one side will opt out in the 6th year?

    • Larry Coon

      I think that one side or the other (or both) will be unhappy (likely the owners) and want to opt out.

      You can view it as a long-term trend. Over the last few CBAs, the owners have taken a progressively larger bite out of the players. They could see this as an opportunity to continue the trend — maybe get that true hard cap they were looking for in the last agreement.

      I think when all is said and done, lots of teams will have something to complain about with the current agreement.

  3. Matty

    Do you think its warranted to hand out sanctions to San Antonio for resting their big three against the Heat as Emperor Stern was recently talking about?

    • Larry Coon

      I wanted to get to this question quickly, since the NBA hasn’t made any sort of announcement about sanctions yet — but that could change quickly.

      My answer is yes. The NBA is a big-money business, and none of this would be possible without the fans spending their hard-earned money (lots of it) on NBA entertainment. Think of the fan who can afford to go to one game a year, picks the Spurs because Tim Duncan is his son’s favorite player and he wants the kid to be able to see him, and finds out that day that Pop decided the team’s pretty much mailing this one in.

      The schedule is 82 games, and fans at all 82 games deserve to see the team’s best effort, and the stars they paid to see. I know players can also be out due to injuries, but this is different. This is a team intentionally taking a game off. EVERY team has four-games-in-five-night stretches on their schedule. They have to deal with it. The way to address the problem is through the scheduling, not like this.

  4. Mike Allen

    Will the suns have enough room to offer Dwight Howard a max contract in the off season

    • Larry Coon

      Dwight will be able to get about $20.5 million next season from whichever team he signs with. Right now the Suns are committed to about $45.7 million in 2013-14 (and can maybe get a little farther under, depending on Shannon Brown’s guarantee). But that doesn’t give them enough to offer Dwight $20.5 million.

  5. Vin

    You said “ask me anything” on Twitter. Would you rather fight 1 horse sized duck or 100 duck sized horses, and why?

    • Larry Coon

      One horse-sized duck. Expand an animal significantly beyond its normal size and you have to re-engineer the way it’s put together. A horse-sized duck would immediately collapse under its own weight. And be better eating.

  6. Celticsforlife1

    Do you see any trades that would benefit the celtics where they could be a threat to a title. And what type of players would they be able to acquire!

    • Larry Coon

      Being a threat to a title means being able to get past Miami. I suppose Chris Wilcox for LeBron James would get that done.

      In terms of REALISTIC trades, I don’t think anything gets them past the Heat (and whichever team comes out of the West). Usually when teams make trades to get a lot better in the short term, they’re either exchanging youth for veterans, or ending contracts for expensive, long-term contracts. I don’t see a lot of opportunities for the Celts to reap that sort of windfall.

  7. Mo

    Can teams still waive players and spread the contract over a few years? I have yet to see one GM use it or is there some sort of deterrent I’m not aware about?

    • Larry Coon

      Yes, they can do that — but only for contracts signed under the current CBA.

  8. Mo

    Gasol for Bargnani and Calderon? Unite D’Antoni and his fellow Italian, spread the court for Nash and Howard.

    • Larry Coon

      I don’t think the Lakers do that deal. They can get better value elsewhere if they DO decide to move Gasol. Plus Bargnani’s contract lasts into 2014-15, and I think the Lakers are setting themselves up to wipe the slate clean and go shopping in 2014.

  9. Albert

    Did you get any more color on what Stern meant when he threw out that $5 billion number? I believe he was heavily rounding (and perhaps not even speaking about BRI specifically), but 20% growth over the 2010-11 level still suggests BRI for this season of $4.58 billion. That, in turn, suggests a projected BRI for next season (at 4% growth, the league’s original growth rate target for next season) of $4.76 billion, producing an estimated salary cap of $64 million and luxury tax of $78 million (before any salary and benefits related adjustments are made). Should we be expecting a $78 million tax level now?

    • Larry Coon

      Hi Albert — yeah, I was a little taken aback by that number. I asked the league about it and didn’t get a reply — I’ll ask them again. But I also noticed that he said “revenue” without being specific about BRI. I do know that in July the projection was $4.3 billion.

      The TV deals were already made in July, so it can’t be that. I know that Brooklyn’s revenue has been higher than expected — they’re averaging close to $2 million in ticket sales per game, and have correspondingly high money coming in through sponsorships, suite sales and merchandise. But all that doesn’t get the league to $5 billion.

  10. Sarah from Woodland Hills

    Pau and Metta to GSW for Lee and Jefferson. That’s a winner, eh?

  11. Frank Iversen - Denmark

    Hi Larry!
    I read last month, when Robert Pera and his investor group purchased the Grizzlies, that the group lent money from the League’s credit facility. Who is able to lend money from the loan pool and what is the largest loan that may be issued?
    Thanks,
    Frank

    • Larry Coon

      A league-wide credit facility has been in existence since 2003, from which teams can borrow money at a more favorable rate than they can get on their own. Teams frequently use this facility, even if it’s just as a bridge loan. I believe (but don’t know for sure) that when the league bought the Hornets, it was paid for out of a $300 million loan through the credit facility. I don’t know if there is a specific cap on an individual loan, but the credit line is (or at least was) over $2 billion.

  12. Kal Laffoon

    I know it’s only a short sample size, but with Pau Gasol’s struggles in D’Antoni’s system, could you foresee any moves happening with him involved? Is the trade of Pau Gasol for Josh Smith and Jeff Teague actually have potential?

    • Larry Coon

      From what I’m hearing there’s no deal to be had with Atlanta.

      But yes, I can see the Lakers pulling the trigger on a Gasol deal. But probably not until after the new year.

  13. Mike

    Can the Heat afford a move to get bigger?

    • Larry Coon

      They don’t have the means to do anything right now except sign minimum-salary contracts.

  14. Chief

    Will the Knicks be able to offer J.R Smith an early Birds rights contract this off-season? How will that effect their overall cap situation, seeing as they were so close the apron this summer?

    • Larry Coon

      Yes, they will have Early-Bird rights to Smith this summer, so assuming he opts out next summer, they can give him either the league average salary or 175% of this year’s salary, whichever is greater. So they’ll be able to start him at about $5.4 million next season.

      Right now they’re committed to about $77.6 million for next season — more if Smith outs-out and re-signs. They will be taxpayers and likely will be over the apron as well.

  15. Owen

    I am huge clipper fan. At first, I thought our depth would give us an unmatched advantage. It does. But I almost think we have too much depth. What do you think they will do to lead more minutes for people like Bledsoe and Jordan and even Willie green who is probably going to get zero minutes

    • Larry Coon

      Their bench is doing better than I thought it would, and “too much depth” is certainly a nice problem to have. I think Vinny will work out a rotation and stick with it, but you’re right — players like Willie Green might be stuck at the end of the bench.

  16. Jim

    Larry,
    With the Rockets current financial cap flexibility , what could the the Houston Fans expect to see in trades this year or free agent off season acquistions?

    • Larry Coon

      This is just a suggestion and not something I heard, but Daryl Morey has always liked Pau Gasol (and nearly landed him a year ago). I think he’d be nice fit with the nucleus they’re building. I could see a deal with Pau going to Houston, some of the Rockets’ young assets going somewhere and a couple players coming to LA. Ryan Anderson, maybe?

  17. John

    You point to the kid at the Spurs-Heat game who was looking forward to seeing Tim Duncan play. What about all the kids at home in San Antonio crossing their fingers that this old team will somehow stay healthy through an 82 game schedule and still be playing in June? Or even more directly, the kids who will be at the Spurs-Grizzlies game on Saturday and want to see the team be able to go full-throttle against a division rival? Pop can’t make all kids everywhere happy at all times…

    • Larry Coon

      I realize there are larger goals — like staying healthy and being ready for the playoffs. But deciding to mail-in individual games has to be untenable. You could make a slippery-slope argument — if this is okay, where do we draw the line? Should teams be able to take off the second night of back-to-backs? Games in which they’re most likely to be beaten? Games with long flights for an individual game on the road? Games on Mondays?

      Since the Spurs now have the advantage of their core suffering through one fewer four-in-five stretch, should other teams now be allowed to do the same? Or is this an advantage just for the Spurs since they’re old?

      The league has to make the point clear that all 82 games are equally important, and teams can’t manage the grind by choosing to mail in games. Again — if the schedule is too tough, then that’s something to be addressed by the Board of Governors, not by individual coaches.