The Recession and the NBA Continued

I have written extensively on my thoughts on the economy and the NBA. You can see some of my viewpoints in these previous articles:

• Will the Economy Crush the NBA?
• Stern and the State of the NBA

Recently, I have noticed a number of articles and thoughts that have come out evidencing that the NBA is truly in a state of financial flux. I have outlined some of the articles here that I have found most intriguing and think you guys should read as well:

• When Raef Lafrentz is getting better offers than a starting All-Star forward, it makes you wonder about the state of these NBA teams (via Truehoop).
• John Hollinger on the state of the NBA (via Truehoop).
• Sacramento Kings losing $25M this year? (Sacbee).
• David Aldridge points out the number of teams looking to dump salary (via NBA.com).
• The NBA is borrowing $175M to help cash-strapped teams (via Sports Business Journal).

As I have argued in the past and with the evidence from these pieces, I believe the NBA, and probably other professional sports, are in times they have never seen before.

As far as the NBA is concerned, I believe we will see contraction of at least one team and do think we will see at least one team move from their current city (Sacramento, New Orleans) in the coming years. I think what you will see is the NBA gradually moving to a tier-system similar to MLB or professional soccer across the pond.

The teams with the truly deep pockets (Knicks, Blazers, Lakers, etc) will have a stark advantage, as I believe the smaller teams will not even come close to the luxury tax and will only be concerned with making the league minimum cap. Players are going to be in for a rude awakening. Not only are the salaries going to drop, but they are going to be asked to participate more in public relation types of events. Also, I think you will start seeing teams keep fan-friendly type players on their roster versus maybe a more talented player.

In all, I believe the NBA is going to be quite different than what we know it today. There will be changes and some of you fans out there are going to lose your beloved team. I wish this wasn’t the case and hope a quick turnaround can be done to save what the NBA is, however, I am a realist and think we are in for some rocky times.