Ice Age! Why are big contracts no longer flying all over the sky What is the local tyrant line that Ballmore is afraid of

Qing Yang said

2024-07-01 07:58Creators in the field of sports

Can you imagine an unprecedented "ice age" after the opening of the free agent market this year?

As of 7 a.m. Beijing time on July 1, only five players had signed up an hour after the opening, and all of them were on retention contracts:

(1) Harden stays with the Clippers for 70 million for 2 years.

(2) Christie stayed with the Lakers for 32 million in 4 years

(3) Lefu 2 years 8 million to stay in the heat

(4) Cornet is on a one-year contract with the Celtics

(5) Lane stays the king for 3.3 million a year

None of the teams signed players other than their own team!

It all boils down to last year's 2023 version of the collective bargaining agreement, and the new collective management rules that have been in place since last season have completely exploded their power this offseason.

This version of the collective bargaining agreement can be called the "new rules for fighting local tyrants", and it is almost tailor-made for the teams in the league who are crazy about throwing money and building super warships.

So that's why we can see that the Warriors can't keep Paul and Klay, and the Clippers want to send Paul George away.

Among them, the most lethal are the two new local tyrant lines.

The collective bargaining agreement stipulates that the total salary of the NBA will have five lines as a reference. (The following are the latest official figures for the 2024-25 season)

Poor ghost line - 126.5 million, the minimum wage space for each team, the difference between the teams that cannot be reached will be evenly distributed to the existing players in the team.

Salary cap – 140.5 million, a standard specified by dividing the league's BRT (basketball-related revenue) by 30 teams, is also the average salary line in the league.

The luxury tax line - 170.8 million, beyond which the tax will be paid to the league, and finally the other teams under the league will be distributed proportionately.

The first tyrant line - 178.1 million, the first limit set for over-taxed teams, commonly known as the "hard salary cap", will have to be set below this line for teams that have completed part of the operation.

The second tyrant line - 188.9 million, can be called the "death tax line", beyond this line not only is most of the trading authority tacitly charged, but also the luxury tax will be further increased, which is the Plus version of the first tyrant line.

Under the new collective bargaining agreement, it can be said that the ultimate distinction between "teams under the hat" (below the salary cap) and tax-paying teams (above the luxury tax line) has been completed.

When your salary is less than the salary cap, you belong to the under-cap team.

Not only can you sign players directly with space (like the 76ers this year), but you also have the right to use space to sign players ($7.98 million).

The most important thing is that it is not necessary to follow the principle of balancing when trading, there is a considerable degree of loosening.

When the amount is 0-7.5 million US dollars, you can get a contract of 200% + 250,000 US dollars,

When the amount of $7.50-29 million is given, you can get 100% + $7.5 million contract,

If the amount of the gift is more than $29 million, you can get a 125% + $250,000 contract.

Current cap-down teams include the 76ers, Pistons, Magic, Jazz, Thunder, Spurs, and Hornets.

And teams that exceed the salary cap, but don't need to talk about the luxury tax, are also rewarded by the league.

Not only can you use the complete middle-class exception (12.82 million), but also the transaction exception (contract change for small contract) that appears in the transaction can also be used.

However, it should be noted that once the middle class exception is used, the total salary of the season will be "the first hard cap", and the team's salary cannot exceed the first local tyrant line (178 million) at any time.

Most teams in the league are currently in this range, including the Rockets, Mavericks, Hawks, the Warriors who got rid of Klay and Paul, the Lakers who James temporarily jumped out of contract, and so on.

If you just exceed the luxury tax line (170.8 million), there are not many penalties other than not being able to use the full middle class and need to pay taxes, but once you exceed the first local tyrant line, disadvantages start to follow.

The complete middle class is confiscated, only the mini middle class can be used (5.16 million), 100% of the assets must be exchanged for the transaction match (no less for more), buyout players with an annual salary higher than the full middle class cannot be signed, and trading exceptions cannot be used.

The current New York Knicks, Miami Heat, etc. are in this danger zone.

The teams that exceed the second local tyrant line (189 million) are the key targets of the league, not only can they not package and trade (more players are exchanged for less), give cash in the transaction, and they cannot sign first and then exchange, and even the mini middle class has been confiscated.

At the same time, his seven-year first-round pick is also frozen, and once he exceeds the second-round line for half of the next season, this first-round pick will be forcibly moved to the last place in the first round, and the trade value will plummet.

It can be said that once this line is exceeded, the operation is controlled step by step. This is the case with the Suns, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Celtics, etc. today.

No, the Nuggets lost their starting 3D Pop, who was just pried away by the Orlando Magic for 3 years and 66 million.

It is precisely because of the restrictions on the teams that spend more money in the collective bargaining agreement that the teams in the league are now tightening their money and breaking the penny in half, because once the second luxury tax line is exceeded, it almost means that the existing roster is old.

And for a "wonderful" like the Suns (Durant, Booker, Beal, Allen, Nurkic, O'Neal) with a total salary of nearly 200 million, it is almost doomed to succeed in today's league.

View original image 3.71M

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•