Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 545 - 181: Trade Deadline, The Troublemaker Wizards (5K - , Please Subscribe and Vote!)
The All-Star Weekend concluded successfully.
Bobby Marks from ESPN was quick to reveal the details of the labor negotiations and answered fans’ questions about the differences between the new and old labor agreements under the title "Where Exactly Did Players Win?"
First and foremost is the most important section related to basketball income, specifically the distribution ratio of BRI (Basketball Related Income).
Although under the previous labor agreement, players had a 57% share of BRI, before the Dallas incident, Marks mentioned that the players’ union, led by Fisher, was even prepared to concede this ratio down to 52%.①
However...
In Dallas, Qin Yue not only argued strongly to ultimately secure a 54% BRI share for the players, but also established a welfare pool for retired and mid-to-lower-tier players with an additional 1% from the owners’ BRI income under the revised labor agreement.
Regarding this, Qin Yue reasoned, "Did these players not sweat and bleed for you?"
It should be noted that traditionally, the league had always adopted a policy where active players support retired players and superstar players support mid-to-lower-tier players.
That is, a capitalist model where funds come from the players’ own BRI income, approximately 1% is deducted to create a welfare pool.
But now it’s different.
Despite the revised labor agreement still taking 1% from the players’ BRI income to maintain the welfare pool, the owners likewise have to contribute 1% from their BRI to ensure the welfare of retired and mid-to-lower-tier players.
Secondly, both labor and management will establish a salary cap regulation body.
By utilizing this body, the league can adjust the annual salary cap and luxury tax lines with mutual agreement between labor and management to ensure BRI does not exceed expectations.
Marks commented on this groundbreaking idea in his article, stating, "Now, everything becomes more transparent. Players can use the salary cap regulation to determine whether team owners are truly losing money, and owners can resolve budget shortfalls through dialogue that might occur in some seasons."
In Marks’ view, this is an invention that effectively resolves various potential conflicts.
For example, if in the 10/11 season, according to the calculations of this body, the league should not raise the salary cap...
The players and owners can then sit down and negotiate.
Rather than in the past when owners would complain about excessive expenses after the salary cap was raised, or the league would unilaterally cut salary caps for several future seasons, causing player dissatisfaction.
Moreover, while advocating dialogue to solve issues, the establishment of this body greatly ensures the players’ own rights.
Because players, gaining further voice, are bound to occupy more advantages in future labor negotiations.
Marks knows very well that this is the voice players have never possessed before.
This also marks the first time players are genuinely involved in the future development and planning of the NBA.
In Qin Yue’s previous life, although the league would issue similar salary cap regulation agreements as the NBA’s income decreased yearly, the voice Qin Yue fought for players in Dallas is an apparent enhanced version of the future agreement’s impact.
For compared to historical contemporaries, players could still only passively accept changes in the salary cap increases or decreases.
Qin Yue not only fought for the players’ right to counteract management within this agreement.
Additionally, as players participate in the NBA’s future development, alongside playing, many superstars will undoubtedly be motivated to help the league expand.
After all, as long as they can work together to make the pie bigger and bring in more revenue for the NBA, future salary caps can also rise.
This is the main reason investor representatives led by Old Buss agreed to set up this body.
In Dallas, Old Buss keenly perceived Qin Yue’s attitude of championing dialogue to solve problems beneath a tough exterior and his ambition to lead the entire league out of trouble by partnering to make the pie bigger.
As the league’s historically most successful owner, Old Buss knew better than anyone that, rather than always pressuring players to the limit, only by finding ways to expand the pie together can the NBA thrive.
Of course, aside from the overarching issues in this round of labor negotiations, management also initiated dialogue with players on the rising costs of championship pursuit.
On this matter, recognizing that the current league indeed needs rules to fix the messy code, Qin Yue and other superstars did not make the team owners’ lives difficult.
Consequently, supplementary agreements, including the Messiah clause amendments, Bird rights modification, sign-and-trade corrections, and the establishment of super luxury taxes were agreed upon by both labor and management in these negotiations.
According to the new labor agreement version, the effective period for the Messiah clause will be extended to seven years.
Simply put, as long as a player meets the Messiah clause requirements within the first seven years of their career, they can sign a max contract worth 30% or 35% of their team’s salary cap with their home team when their contract expires.
Furthermore, the Messiah clause can be stacked with the NBA’s veteran tenure during contract renewals.② 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎
In the eyes of small-market team owners, extending this clause’s validity will help them retain superstar players on their teams.
For example, LeBron James, who satisfies the Messiah clause (formerly Rose clause).
Since James will simultaneously meet the NBA’s seven-year veteran tenure and the Messiah clause when his contract expires this summer, if he chooses to re-sign with the Cavaliers, he can secure a super-max contract worth 35% of the team’s salary cap in advance.
