The goal was to deter teams from racking up massive payrolls, and that’s exactly what’s happened.
The 2011 NBA collective bargaining agreement was a mammoth achievement for the 30 franchise owners and the league itself. Players gave up $300 million in annual salary by allowing the revenue split to drop from 57 percent to 50 percent, and while franchise owners didn’t get everything they wanted, that was the single biggest inflection point.
Basketball legend Michael Jordan voiced his support for LeBron James on Saturday after President Donald Trump posted a critical tweet regarding the Los Angeles Lakers superstar.
According to Geoff Bennett of NBC News, Jordan released a statement through a spokesperson that read, "I support LJ. He's doing an amazing job for his community."
We have that and more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
Apparently, Tristan Thompson has been on the hunt for Draymond Green since the NBA Finals ended, and found him last month at LeBron’s ESPYs after-party, and did ... something to act on their pre-existing feud.
Nets starter Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was injured during a charity event in China on Saturday, according to a report from the New York Post.
We have that and more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.
LeBron James will not “shut up and dribble.” Thank goodness.
LeBron, his foundation, and Akron Public Schools opened up a joint venture in James’ hometown on Monday. Dubbed the I Promise School, it’s a special public school that offers at-risk kids additional support on top of an enhanced education. It’s designed to provide “wraparound support” for kids who, for whatever reason, need it. James Dator has a full explainer here.
They may be rivals on the court, but the two most popular players in the NBA are nothing but supportive of each other off it.
LeBron James is not only one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history, but he’s an outstanding human being off the court. That shouldn’t be up for debate after last week, when the Los Angeles Lakers superstar opened up the I PROMISE School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.
AKRON, Ohio -- LeBron James says the Los Angeles Lakers' string of free-agent acquisitions since he committed to the team -- Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee and Michael Beasley -- share a common bond as basketball junkies and that quality should define them more so than their spotty reputations as interesting locker room characters.
Houston came so close to winning the West last year, and now it seems they’ve gotten worse.
Free agency has been a bummer for the Houston Rockets so far. The winningest team in the league a year ago watched a starter in Trevor Ariza walk away for a one-year, money-driven deal to a rebuilding Suns team. Then his backup, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, fled too. While the Golden State Warriors are even stronger after signing DeMarcus Cousins, their biggest threat has been diminished. It’s painful to watch.
Player empowerment is at an all-time high, but there are other structural incentives causing all this star movement.
After Kawhi Leonard was traded for DeMar DeRozan last week, a stunning fact made the rounds. Fully half of the players in the 2017 NBA All-Star game had switched teams in just 18 months. These are the best players in the league, and half of them had changed teams via trade or free agency over the course of two trade deadlines and two offseasons.
