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Would you accept the NBA offer?

Do you accept the offer?

  • Yes

    Votes: 46 93.9%

  • No

    Votes: 3 6.1%
  • Total voters
    49
  • Poll closed .
R

royzzz

Well-Known Member
If you're an NBA player, would you accept the NBA's offer?
Of course, there are other factors here like if you think you're superstar, all-star material, middle-group player, ageing veteran, wide-eyed sophomore, up and coming young player, fringe player, etc.

I'll start.
Me thinks I am one of those middle of the pack player to an ageing vet (now this reveals my age) - think Earl Watson, Ronnie Price or Andre Miller - chances are teams will look me up only after the big names are not available. And I still want to win a championship or at least a conference championship.

So I will say yes and agree to the offer.


I'm not sure if this should go to General Discussion or here .. so kindly mods kindly transfer if necessary. Thanks.
 
The promise of a 72 game season will hopefully prove to be enticing to the players. And the way I would look at it, I'll lose more money if an entire season is lost than if I just agree to a "bad" deal.
 
This will be fascinating. They know the owners are on record saying this is the best offer they will get so it is all down hill from here. In reality, they are either calling the owners bluff and hoping for a better offer or admitting they need to decertify. I don't think the offer gets any better.
 
It's easy for us to say say when comparing our current salaries to the NBA-level salaries. Maybe a better questions is how many of us would accept a 10% pay cut from our current employer?

I have no idea how I would vote as a player.
 
would the owners blink / give a better offer after a year? after 2 years? highly unlikely, it's downhill from here for the players.
 
I cancelled my medical insurance (because it sucked) and recently they made it even worse.

After being scheduled for overtime for a year I was targeted by management for being an inefficient worker. That did wonders for my motivation, let me tell you. I'm making less money and have no insurance vs. a year ago.

So, yea times are tough. I'd still rather work the job I have than a lot of the alternatives. It makes me sick to keep being told to suck it up and tough things out while people admire these millionaires for their "stand".
 
One Brow said:
It's easy for us to say say when comparing our current salaries to the NBA-level salaries. Maybe a better questions is how many of us would accept a 10% pay cut from our current employer?

I have no idea how I would vote as a player.
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You're right, One Brow. It's really not clear how to vote when (1) an improvement (if any) in the owners' offer would be minor, especially after one final round of stonewalling by the players; and (2) refusal of this offer could result in an even more substantial pay cut--as in a further 3% BRI drop (or 1% or 2% if the owners concede a little on their threat) at best and possibly a total 20% cut or more if the players decertify and the NBA owners start from scratch, doing it the owners' way, over the next few years, making the players pay for the short-term losses in rebuilding at a vastly lower maximum and average salary.

Maybe, just maybe, a big problem with the players is that they haven't stopped to compare their current salaries with Joe Fan's salaries--and that they haven't realized that the best way to stop cost-cutting momentum is to freeze it in a ten-year contract. If they don't know that they have been overpaid both on relative terms (vs. other major team sports) and on absolute terms (vs. the other 99.9% or so of humanity), then they deserve any irrationality that they employ.
 
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just because said:
In today's economy, I would say 90% of us would take a 10% paycut in order to keep our jobs.
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This. You might not like it but you would accept it if the alternative was an even bigger paycut or no job at all. Of course, you could always go elsewhere and hope you're able to find a job that pays as much or more. Maybe in Europe...
 
I think everyone is in agreement that this is the best offer they are going to get. By turning it down they are ultimately going to lose out on the money that could have been made and ultimately sign an even worse deal when the owners bend them to their will.
 
NBA players aren't even as talented as they think they are.
If the refs called the game differently, you could get a more interesting league with players whose biggest strength is their talent and quickness, rather than their huge muscles.
 
My2Cents said:
This. You might not like it but you would accept it if the alternative was an even bigger paycut or no job at all. Of course, you could always go elsewhere and hope you're able to find a job that pays as much or more. Maybe in Europe...
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NBA globetrotters from Deron Williams ($5 millionish salary for an All-Star?) on down have proven that going overseas is not an equally attractive alternative financially (not to mention geographically), even if the owners slashed salaries further than they already have.

Or, if you apply Michael Porter's Five Forces model (commonly taught in MBA schools) to it:

Owners are strong in barriers to entry (NBA would be hard to impossible for players, agents, or anyone else to replicate, because owners have the financial capital and operational infrastructure)

Owners are so-so in availability of suppliers (suppliers = players; they could use replacement players who wouldn't be so attractive in talent but would come at a far lower cost)

Owners are weak in their ability to counter buyers' power (advertisers and fans have a wide range of options and can be price-sensitive), availability of substitutes (NFL, NCAA, etc. look like good entertainment options to all but the die-hard NBA fans), and competitive rivalry (if you include other team sports battling for sports-entertainment eyeballs).

Michael_Porter_Five_Forces_Model.png

https://www.maxi-pedia.com/Five+Forces+model+by+Michael+Porter

If the NBA owners wanted to strengthen their strategic position further according to this model, they would continue to squeeze the players for even more, because this revised CBA takes the owners only back to around break-even, still leaving tons on the table financially for the players relative to their next-best alternatives (Europe, traveling leagues, etc.). So while it might sting to take a 10% to 12% average pay cut, it'll sting more if they dilly-dally.

These are the types of business and strategy fundamentals that most (if not all) NBA players--with their average <2 years of college education, not to mention lack of "real life" professional experience--do not understand, including Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, and the team representatives.

And it helps to explain why the players might not be recognizing that if they don't accept this offer, things are more likely to get worse for them rather than better. Owners will make players pay for the need to delay revenue generation further and/or begin the multi-year process of restructuring the NBA from the ground up, albeit from a better cost basis.

I'm surprised that the well-respected University of Chicago economist that the NBAPA hired didn't talk some strategic sense into the NBAPA executive committee. Or maybe he tried.
 
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What they dont understand is that player contracts drive ticket prices. If ticket prices dont come down many fans are going to be priced out. So those fans watch on cable. The cable deal also goes to player salaries. As salaries go up, cable prices will eventually go up as well. Eventually the fan cant afford to keep cable so they cancel service. If people cancel thier cable the cable comp. will not renew the contract and that means no more money for players.

I think the owners understand this much better than the players do. Players see the money the league made last year, but they dont see 3 year or 5 years or 10 years in advance. Lots of owners have gottten to be owners because they can plan ahead and have a good plan. They see that they have a commondity that people can easily cut out of their life. So if they cant change ticket priceing in order to keep pace with the economy then they get 100% loss instead of 5% or 10%. That is why getting locked into contracts is scary for owners.

So yes I would take it if I was a player.
 
just because said:
In today's economy, I would say 90% of us would take a 10% paycut in order to keep our jobs.
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In today's economy lots of people have done exactly that, and more, just to stay employed. This is a bad environment for the players to get a lot of sympathy. So instead of your 5 million per year, plus a chunk of 1.2 billion, you get a chunk of 1.1 billion instead? Oh I feel so sad for you. Wut-ever.
 
Of course I take it. If I have, on average, 9 or so years to secure my financial future how much more money could I possibly expect to make that would overcome losing more than 10% of my potential time I'm able to maintain a substantial income? But then again, I'm not a player and they're not me -- they're doubtful looking to secure their financial future but instead literally live paycheck to paycheck, which is probably a huge thing fueling the entitlement because they see themselves as being just like everyone else. The only losers in the long run are the agents, who will be around still making money long after the players of today are gone, so how do you think they'll advise their clients?
 
Biggest reason to take the deal is the 6 year opt out clause. It's just not that long a window. Accept the setback, bank the money, and make sure everyone's prepared for the next lockout when the players will go for blood. By then, the sympathy should switch to them in the media and the owners will have an impossible task crying poverty. This really isn't a difficult choice.
 
billyshelby said:
Biggest reason to take the deal is the 6 year opt out clause. It's just not that long a window. Accept the setback, bank the money, and make sure everyone's prepared for the next lockout when the players will go for blood. By then, the sympathy should switch to them in the media and the owners will have an impossible task crying poverty. This really isn't a difficult choice.
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By then a good chunk of these players will be gone. The players will have become comfortable with what they are making and it seems likely to me that the deal would just get extended if the owners still like it. Any sympathy for the players you think they would get will quickly disappear if they go on strike to try and get a better CBA. I'm sorry but public opinion is not likely to change to someone earning millions of dollars for doing something that the majority would do for far less if they were able.

To get back on topic if the players are smart they take this deal with maybe a couple very minor tweaks. I just don't see a season happening if they go much longer. The talk of decertification will only get stronger if there is another blowup in the talks. Decertification seems to be the death of the season, if not the league as we know it.
 
Just like in Monty Python, "Let's not trouble ourselves with "who killed who", this is a happy occasion"

At this point, the players know what's coming (crappier deal than last CBA)....and the owners aren't all good business men, but I just don't care anymore. I just want basketball back. Arguing over pennies and cents while the fans and businesses around the arenas are starting to fall by the way side. Take the deal and let's play.
 
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