2012 NBA Free Agency: The Franchise Tag the NBA Missed out on in New CBA

The Dwight Howard saga continues to roll on and one has to wonder if both sides didn't miss the boat on their designated franchise player rule. 

As it stands now, the rule allows teams to give an extra year and more guaranteed money to one designated player.  This was instituted to prevent super teams from forming, keep the competitive balance for the small market teams and not have the drama of superstars dictating where they will play.

As everyone is finding out, the rule didn't do much to deter stars from trying to team up.  If Dwight Howard had not opted in to his contract he would be on his way to Brooklyn to play with Deron Williams.  He tried hard to force his way there regardless, but so far has not been able to make the Orlando Magic fold.

Yes, the Magic still have Dwight Howard now, but just about everyone knows that his destiny lies somewhere else.  Robert Hennigan tried to convince Dwight to give the new regime a chance in Orlando, but he was quickly shot down.

Whether he is traded in the near future, or plays his season out in Orlando and signs with the Dallas Mavericks in the off-season, it seems that the franchise tag the NBA incorporated has already failed. 

They were on the right track, but needed to take it a step further.

The one thing they got right was allowing teams to designate one player per a franchise as their Franchise Player. 

Here's how they could've improved it.

1: No Salary Limit for Franchise Player

Teams can pay their designated franchise player however much money they want.  If Cleveland wanted to pay LeBron James $50 million a year, then they could do it.  However, since there is a salary cap in the NBA it would hurt teams to have their franchise player take up 95% of their cap.  So, while teams can pay their franchise player any amount of money per a year, that player only counts against the cap as a "normal" max player.

Here's an example. Deron Williams just signed a max contract with Brooklyn. His first year is worth around $16 million.  Let's say that in order to keep Deron Williams in Brooklyn the Nets said they would pay him $30 million a year.  His cap number would still only be at $16 million and increase normally, even though the Nets are paying him $30 million.

One might think that this would give a competitive edge to the bigger market teams because they can pay the most money.  But only a players current team can designate them as their franchise player.  So when LeBron James was a free agent, the most other teams could offer LeBron was the regular max contract, whereas Cleveland could've offered him however much money they wanted.

2. No Sign and Trades for Franchise Player

Once designated a franchise player, that player cannot be traded for two years. This keeps star players from demanding sign and trades from their respective teams.

While these two steps might not stop super teams from forming, it would certainly make it much more difficult for a star to move on from his small market team. 

It seems this next decade is destined to be the Big Three Era in the NBA.  Maybe after ten years of that, the players union and NBA will find a better way to keep competitive balance in the league and give small market teams a chance to keep the star players they were fortunate enough to draft.