https://sports.abs-cbn.com/nba/news/2018/06/01/comm-silver-weighs-cap-system-league-parity-42360
NBA
Comm. Silver weighs in on cap system, league parity and more
By NBA.com Global on Jun 01, 2018 02:29 PM
Comm. Silver weighs in on cap system, league parity and more
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks at a news conference before Game 1 of basketball's NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, May 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
By Steve Aschburner, NBA.com
OAKLAND – The two teams that have pitched tents on the NBA Finals for the past four years share a bunch of attributes. Star power, three-point marksmanship, continuity at least at some minimal level, crafty and dedicated coaching staff, and a know-how that has grown with each subsequent championship showdown.
There’s one other thing, though, that should not be overlooked.
The Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers rank Nos. 1 and 2 in team payroll, each spending a few exotic motor cars north of $137 million on the players competing in the 2018 Finals.
Warriors guard Steph Curry ($34.7 million) and Cleveland forward LeBron James ($33.3 million) are the league’s two highest paid stars this season, and they have a combined total of seven teammates each being paid more than $15 million in 2017-18.
It’s no coincidence, then, that in terms of on-court success, the Golden State and Cleveland owners are getting what they paid for. Or, perhaps inversely, paying for what they get.
This bang-for-the-big-bucks aspect came up Thursday (Friday, PHL time) in NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s annual pre-Finals news conference. Silver was talking about the oddity of the same two teams meeting in the championship round for the fourth consecutive time – unprecedented across the four major U.S. pro team sports. The fact is, beyond talent and strategies, being able and willing to spend top dollar undeniably is a major factor.
That goes right to the heart of the league’s economic model.
What gives? The salary cap gives, that’s what.
Unlike the “hard” cap system used by the NFL, the NBA has a “soft” cap that makes it painful and pricey, but not impossible, for a team owner to exorbitantly overpay for success. The official cap figure this season was $99 million, with a $119.2 million luxury-tax threshold. Both the Warriors and the Cavaliers payouts dwarf those numbers.
The difference between hard and soft is one reason the NFL is known for its parity while the NBA is dealing these days with two dominant franchises and 28 wannabes.
“You still have two teams that are significantly above, not just the cap, but the tax,” Silver said. “Now [the hard cap is] something that we’ll continue to look at. There are pros and cons to doing it. Historically, one of the issues in our league was we didn’t necessarily want to break up teams. There is a different sense in the NBA than the NFL, and the chemistry and dynamic that comes together with a group of players.”
Any changes in the cap system would need to be collectively bargained, of course, with the National Basketball Players Association.
“You could do more to achieve parity, but you also don’t want parity of mediocrity either,” Silver said.
The NBA wants its Larry O’Brien Trophy to still celebrate excellence, not participation. And excellence isn’t only a function of finance.
“Not to take anything away from strong coaching and general managing and ownership,” Silver said, “but you have certain players in our league that are so transcendent that their team is always probably going to be in the hunt.”
Take this for data, from the commissioner via a story on TheRinger.com.
“I looked this up: LeBron, now over the course of the last eight Finals, has played with 59 different players,” Silver said. “It means that presumably the team LeBron is on is going to be a dominant team.”
So to get back to the original question: Is it a good thing for the NBA to have the same two teams in the Finals four years in a row?
“The greater the competition you can create, the greater their interests will be,” Silver said at one point. “At the same time, I don’t think it’s inconsistent to celebrate greatness and to say, my God, look what these two teams are doing.”