NBPA director on superstars deserving more than max: 'Everyone gets it'
It's no secret that invaluable NBA superstars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant are limited by the league's maximum salary restrictions. It turns out that the league's other players understand that, too.
New NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts spoke to the New York Post's Tim Bontemps about the perception among other NBA players of superstars and their value.
"I’ve had conversations with guys who have said, 'Look, when I go to play in New York, I’m not selling out the Garden. I can get on the subway and no one knows who I am. But when LeBron goes to the Garden, he’s selling it out, and he can’t get on the subway because he’ll be mobbed' … so there’s an appreciation of what we all realize is true," Roberts said.
In the wake of the NBA's new $24-billion media rights deal, set to kick in in 2016, players like James, Durant and Kobe Bryant have spoken out about players needing to get their fair share.
It hardly seems fair that James, for example, shouldn't be able to make more than other stars when he's worth substantially more to his team and the league as a whole than anyone else, both on the court and off.
"The LeBrons of the world, the Durants of the world, the Kobes of the world, they make a ton of money for this league and empower everybody," Roberts said. "So I don’t hear players complaining about max salaries or getting rid of max salaries. Because, frankly, everyone gets it."
"Now, having said that, I wasn’t here when the max salary component was worked out," Roberts added. "That’s my world now, and unless we determine and succeed in getting rid of it, that’s the world I have to operate in.”
The NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement expires at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season, and the issue of maximum salaries is expected to be a major point of negotiation.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said earlier this month that if the owners gave up a limit on individual player salaries, the players giving up guaranteed contracts would be a fair trade-off.
That's likely a non-starter for the players, and ignores the fact that many lesser-known players are already sometimes given non-guaranteed deals.