Antawn Jamison of the Cleveland Cavaliers is one of the few players in the NBA who also was in the league for the 1998 NBA Lockout. He recently spoke to the media about the differences between the two lockouts.
He indicates that this time around the players are much more unified than in the previous lockout, and that they will be willing to sit out the entire season before giving in to the owner’s demands of salary rollbacks and a hard salary cap. Perhaps his best quote was,
I understand when they say they’re losing money and so forth. I get that. We said we’d give a certain amount of that money back. But some owners have to take the onus on themselves because they put themselves in a situation where they’re overpaying for certain guys.
Exactly, some owners do have to take the onus on themselves for overpaying certain guys. Antawn Jamison is a prime example. He is a good player, but not worth nearly the $15,076,715 he is going to make next season.
The NBA is getting out of hand with salaries. It is no wonder that 22 teams lost money last season and the total losses has exceeded $300 million the past three seasons. During last year’s free agency, the most popular phrase was “max deal.” Every team had cut the fat and reduced cap, to be able to throw it all away on 1-2 players with max deals.
NBA athletes are great athletes, but they don’t need to be making $15 million per year. The true stars could make $5 million in the NBA and then go for the greed with endorsement deals. If a player can’t survive on $5 million, they need to go back to school and take some money management 101 classes.
The proposed hard cap is a great idea, but for so many teams it is not feasible because of recent max deals. For instance, the Lakers, Heat and Knicks will be spending $40 million plus on only TWO players each season for the next three years.
What do you think about NBA Salaries, or athlete salaries in general?
[Photo Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux via ClubLakers.com]
