When the NBA and the player's union signed the most recent collective bargaining agreement, they inadvertently created a problem that the Detroit Pistons are now dealing with in their Jalen Duren negotiations.
The league ushered in the era of super-max contracts at the same time as more punitive measures for exceeding the tax aprons, so players are now eligible for way more money than the teams can afford to give them and still build a deep roster.
Add in the 65-game rule for eligibility for awards, and they've created a monster here, one that we are now seeing play out with Jalen Duren.
Duren is eligible for more money than his market value for the Pistons
Players have to appear in at least 65 games to be eligible for postseason awards, so there was a slew of otherwise great players who were left off the All-NBA teams this season.
Because of that, Jalen Duren snuck onto the third team even though I don't think there are many who would argue he is a top-five center in the NBA.
But now he's eligible to be paid like one, which is why we are at the current standstill.
Duren may be eligible for that money, but there isn't a team out there willing or able to give it to him, including the Pistons, who have other business to worry about, including a future extension for Ausar Thompson, who is ultimately more important to the team's future.
Teams are no longer able to rubber stamp these deals like they did in the past, when exceeding the cap didn't cost anything but money for the billionaire owner. Exceeding the tax aprons under this CBA can have a real effect on team-building, the ability to make trades and even future draft picks, which is why there likely won't be a single NBA team over the second apron heading into next season.
Teams are getting smarter at the same time players are eligible for more money, which means this problem the NBA and its players created is not going away. Either players like Duren are going to have to start accepting less money more reflective of their market value, which doesn't seem likely, as it's hard to tell a player eligible for $287 million that he's actually worth $100 million less.
It's that or teams start finding more creative ways to navigate the new tax rules, maybe by using shorter deals or by utilizing the unlikely-to-be-earned incentives that don't immediately count against the salary cap.
We are likely to see an increasing number of these hardball negotiations until the NBA finds a way out of a situation that was largely self inflicted by increased salaries coinciding with increased penalties for handing them out.
Add us as a preferred source on Google