A More Ideal NBA CBA, Part I - Hard minimum and maximum salary caps

Next season whether it's this October, February 2012, or in October 2013, the NBA is bound to have some major changes to the CBA. First, we'll hit minimum and maximum caps.

THE HARD MAXIMUM CAP
The good news about the hard max cap is that no team can try to outspend another to astronomical numbers. Like in MLB, in the NBA, the teams that are consistent winners also tend to be among the league’s biggest spenders.

I suggest a hard maximum of $60 million.

THE HARD MINIMUM CAP
A minimum cap gives the players security in the fact that there are also teams which tend to penny pinch every year to maximize profits even if the team's performance isn't good. This way no team can try to skirt off with 15 players at their respective minimum salaries…

I suggest a minimum cap of $40 million.

WHY DID I SUGGEST A MINIMUM CAP OF $40 MILLION AND A MAXIMUM CAP OF $60 MILLION?
They weren't exactly arbitrary numbers. First, the NBA, or at least David Stern wants to the total payroll by one third. The players don't wanna lose all their money either and would like to keep things the way they are. The total payroll right now is over $2 billion. If all 30 teams spent $40 million each, then the payroll would be $1.2 billion, which would mean that the total payroll drops by 40%. If all 30 teams spent $60 million each, then the payroll would be $1.8 billion which is a 10% savings. We know total payrolls will not drop to the minimum cap, and we won't see every team try to spend at the maximum cap either, so assuming the average payroll is $50 million a team, the payroll savings is 25% since the total payroll hits $1.5 billion a 25% reduction. Not as much as Stern wants, but still a good drop.

The NHL uses a similar system with two exceptions, one for injuries, and one for performance incentives or what's called the bonus cushion. We will hit that in a later section.

WHY WILL THESE CAPS BE GOOD FOR THE NBA?
Hard maximum and hard minimum caps allow for a more competitive league from top to bottom as players tend to move where more money is available and therefore to teams with less money tied up. But at the same time, the teams at the end of the day have more discretion as to which players receive money.

Much prefer revenue sharing to hard cap.

ok

shit i dont get the financial bit to basketball. i admit i am a NOOB
but i just want to know one thing,
why do the lakers and heat etc. get to have 3 players
making over 15mill. isnt there a salary cap or some shit?
i dont get it lol

Snow, it's because of Bird Rights, and Sign and Trades, and contract extentions

I like te hard cap.

I heard someone [forgot who] say that this summer the NBA will either go in the MLB direction, or it will go in the NFL direction.

If it goes in the MLB direction, there is basically no need to be a fan of about 20 of the teams in the league. The richest teams will get any player they want because they can out-spend anyone... like the Yankees for example.

In the NFL, it doesn't matter whether you're a small market team or a large market team because every team can only spend a certain amount.

I just think it should be a maximum of like 70 million so teams can still have at least 2 max contract players.

Not many teams have more than 2 max contract players anyway.