NEW YORK — It's not hard to identify the winners when the NBA unveils a $24 billion television rights deal. In short: everyone.
Team owners will collect $70 million apiece in 2016-17, more than doubling their current take, according to an NBA source.
General managers will enjoy spectacular payroll flexibility as the salary cap leaps to an estimated $84 million in 2016-17.
Players, in the aggregate, could enjoy a 33 percent increase in salaries in the next two years.
LeBron James could soon become the NBA's first $34 million player.
It will be a glorious time for everyone—Owners! Players! Mascots! T-shirt gun operators!—until the clock strikes midnight on July 1, 2017, and the party comes to a screeching halt. (Cue record-scratch sound effect.)
Who's ready for another lockout?
"I hope guys are preparing," Deron Williams, the Brooklyn Nets star and union representative, told reporters on Monday.
He wasn't the only one making the logical leap from Massive NBA Windfall to Inevitable Labor War.
I ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Howard Beck
TV Windfall Makes for a Happy NBA Now, But Sets Stage for Future Labor Showdown
October 7th, 2014 by Howard Beck Leave a reply »
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