Contracts for NBA players have become increasingly more lucrative over the years, which isn’t just a sign of inflation, but a result of new Collective Bargaining Agreement deals, which have increased the salary cap. This has been controversial, since many argue it shouldn’t exist. But even the greatest from the previous eras, like Scottie Pippen, feel that it’s an inevitable part of the sport.
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The cap allows teams to spend more each year to keep up with the growing financial demands of players. Pippen believes this is an essential part of the game that helps maintain balance across the league.
Not only that, but Pippen also once argued that even if Larry Bird and Michael Jordan played in today’s NBA, there would still be a salary cap. In a recent interview with Spanish publication Marca, Pippen explained why.
“Would there be a salary cap to pay players like Jordan, Pippen, Magic, Bird with today’s salaries?” Pippen was asked by Marca.
“Yes,” he responded.
It was a simple response. And the Chicago Bulls legend quickly pointed out that the cap has only increased despite it being a contentious point back in his day.
Salaries have gone up in every era. In the 90s, it already seemed crazy what was paid. But that’s what players do,” Pippen said.
It was only natural that the NBA salary cap was going to ever go up. Being that the league has been super successful and profitable for decades, players were always going to demand more compensation. At the start of the 1990s, the average contract was $650k. Then, by the end of that decade, it was over $2 million.
Today, the average NBA contract is worth almost $12 million. And Pippen believes that the players ultimately deserve to be paid what they’re owed.
“A middle-class player can earn 20 or 25 million, and he deserves it, he generates it, because the television rights and what is generated around the league have grown a lot. All these years, we have seen the league grow, and with it, the salaries have also grown.”
If the money wasn’t going to the players, it would be going to the owners. And as much as we’d like to believe those owners would reinvest that money into their teams, chances are they would simply pocket the profits. With that in mind, a salary cap that continues to rise is a great way to ensure teams feel the need to spend to stay competitive.
All in all, Pippen made some interesting points. The modern-day salary cap now sits at $154 million, but teams are allowed to exceed that amount if they’re willing to pay luxury tax penalties. Even so, the new apron rules introduced last season have made it much harder for franchises to navigate their spending.
