The NBA Business Model for the 21st Century

It's time the NBA revamp its current business model.

With the current collective bargaining agreement expiring next year, the league can make some headway in that direction. Some major modification need to be made before that can happen, partially due to the current economic conditions gripping the country, but more importantly to restore integrity and competitive balance to a league that West, Wilt, Jabbar, Magic, Bird, and Jordan built.

The first order of business should be to restructure the exorbitant guaranteed contracts players are receiving presently. Baseball and football are the only major North American sports that offer such deals to its athletes. Guaranteeing players seven-year contracts for millions of dollars a year, yet don't give owners the ability to cut dead weight, is tearing at the very fabric of the league.

Usually, I'm against owners when it comes down to disputes over money with athletes, but I have to confess, I’m with big business on this one. For better or worse, the game has changed much over the years; things such as the implementation of zone defense and a more orient offense are purely debatable. But what hasn’t changed is the asinine business model currently in existence.

For instance, I honestly believe teams like the Sonics franchise wouldn't have relocated had it not been bogged down with abysmal contracts by the likes of Vin Baker, Jim McIlvaine, Calvin Booth, and Jerome James (sound familiar Knicks fans?). Without contracts like these, they would have been able to field a better squad and gain more revenue through endorsements, merchandise and tickets sales (and inadvertently deterring the egregious move to Oklahoma City, of all places!!!). My beloved Knicks have been held hostage by the likes of Penny Hardaway, Eddy Curry, and the man whom prompted me to write this very article, the NOTORIOUS Stephon Marbury, just to name a few. It is totally absurd for a dude to make upwards of $20 million for sitting at home, or sitting in the crowd in his civvies, watching his team get shellacked. 

How can any cynic defend such behavior is beyond me!

The second line of business would be to implement a hard cap to enable franchises like the Bucks, Grizzlies, and Bobcats to be competitive in free agency and gain some relevance for their soon-to-be relocating franchises. Cynics may cry: "It’s not the players fault; the onus is on the GMs and owners.” I know it's incumbent upon the owners and the GMs to not make "Isaiah/Dolan" decisions, in which they pretty much wrote the rule book on how to destroy a franchise. But the league has to protect itself from itself in this instance. The players' union probably won’t bend to the notion of eliminating guaranteed contracts. That's fine. But guaranteed contracts should be shorter and incentive-laden.

Guaranteed contracts work in baseball because you essentially develop dirt cheap talent a la the minor leagues. That's why teams like the A's, Braves, Rays, and Marlins can hang with the likes of the Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox year in and year out. The NBA has no such alternative. The CBA is a joke; all you have is college basketball. So if a hot commodity is present among the college ranks, then you have a race between the worst franchises to see who can tank the most games, which is completely absurd. A hard cap and modification of contracts can resolve that issue.

The changes I've mentioned would make the league more balanced and competitive, as well as put more control into the hands of coaches, who are constantly in fear of getting canned if they upset their star players. It would also benefit ownership, who are financially strapped due to the current economic conditions and doling out $20 million contracts to guys like Stephon Marbury to sit at home. Most importantly, it would benefit us, the fans of the game, who've come to expect more from a league that flourished exponentially through the early 1970’s and late 1990’s.

It’s time to save the NBA, before it becomes the next NHL!!!!!