Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy nails the mega-contract situation that NBA players have received this offseason.
The Detroit Pistons paid Ish Smith $18 million this offseason. They also paid Andre Drummond a max deal that could be in the $130 million dollar range and Jon Leuer $44 million.
For those who are bad at math, that’s $192 million the Pistons’ paid in free agency this offseason.
Virtually every team was in a similar situation this offseason with the NBA salary cap skyrocketing this offseason.
Take a player like Allan Crabbe for example. The Portland Trail Blazers offered Crabbe–a solid role player at best–$70 million this offseason. He’s set to make more than Paul George, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, and Kawhi Leonard this season.
Next season’s cap will be even higher.
The dollar amounts players have been receiving this offseason has lead to some eye brows being raised from professional athletes in other sports.
But not Pistons’ coach Stan Van Gundy, who says the players deserve it.
"“You gotta understand this is all collectively bargained between the owners and players,” he said. “The players have certainly benefited because the business of the NBA has been so good, but why is the business so good and why is the NBA so popular? It’s because of the players. It’s because when you turn on the TV, the quality of the athletes and the quality of the players you’re watching is so good.“So now the TV contracts go up and the basketball-related income goes up, and the players and owners have sat down and decided how that would be distributed. So the players are reaping the benefits of their own great play and the way that that has increased the popularity of this league, so to me they’re deserving of it. I mean, the sports consumer out there has decided basically what the league is worth and the players have benefited from that.”"
Bingo.
Don’t hate the players. In fact, there’s no real reason to hate at all. The players put fans in the stands. They literally are the foundation of the sport and the NBA as an organization.
The players are also the reason the NBA got the mega-TV deal. Well that, and just good business sense by NBA marketers and stakeholders.
If you had to poke holes in what the players were able to accomplish this season, you could make the argument that the D-League players deserved some sort of cut, but even that doesn’t hold merit given the state of the league. The D-League simply has trouble keeping people in the stands.
Van Gundy really isn’t in a position to complain about anything. He’s not the one cutting the checks and he has to work first hand with the players. Of course he’s going to be behind them.
That said, his comments certainly don’t hurt when he’s looking to add to his roster next offseason.