The NBA’s new CBA is squeezing the league’s middle class

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Former Orlando Magic forward Bol Bol posted career-highs in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots as a promising seven-footer with guard-like skills last season.

Yet when it was time for the market to dictate his worth in contract negotiations, the 24-year-old Bol settled on a one-year veteran’s minimum deal with the Phoenix Suns worth just $2.165 million.

Such is the state of affairs for NBA players who don’t classify as franchise cornerstones but are looking to be paid fair market value in salary under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.

While NBA teams dedicate an average of two-thirds of this season’s $136M salary cap to the top-three players on their roster, the league’s middle class suddenly finds itself squeezed thin.

Of the approximate $3.8B in player salaries signed away this summer, $2.5B, or 64%, is split among just 19 players, ranging from Boston’s Jaylen Brown — who just signed the richest contract in NBA history — to both Houston’s Dillon Brooks and Indiana’s Bruce Brown, each set to earn more than $20M annually.

Elsewhere in the NBA, however, quality veteran players with a history of production find themselves unemployed, and many of those who secured a job did so by taking a pay cut.

Malik Beasley, for example, averaged close to 13 points per game last season for both the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz but opted to sign a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Former Knicks point guard Dennis Smith Jr. enjoyed a resurgent season with the Charlotte Hornets last year but ultimately signed a one-year, minimum deal with the Brooklyn Nets.

Yuta Watanabe shot 44.4% from downtown for the Nets last season but also took the veteran’s minimum to join the Phoenix Suns.

Approximately one out of every three NBA deals signed this summer were at the veteran’s minimum.

And while some continued a longtime trend of taking a pay cut to join a championship contender, others faced the NBA’s newest harsh reality: In a league generating more revenue than ever before, the new CBA significantly benefits face-of-the-franchise level players but leaves little…

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Source link : https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nba-cba-squeezing-league-middle-205400622.html?src=rss

Author : NY Daily News

Publish date : 2023-07-31 20:54:00

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