Little Known Fact - The inter-relation Between Hard Cap and Guaranteed Contracts

by Kevin L. Davis (@EsquireSports)

I read a great article from Henry Abbott a few days back that really explains why the NBA Players are so opposed to accepting the hard cap and its impact on guaranteed deals that I had never considered. It was weird because I always here people commenting on Players guaranteed contracts and saw fans writing about how Players in the NBA are spoiled by their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that I always assumed the provision promising guaranteed contracts was in the CBA. The truth of the matter is its not.

Abbott explained that there is nothing in the CBA that guarantees the Players guaranteed contracts. They just get them because the current market (which includes a soft cap that allows teams to exceed the cap level) allows teams to be more free with their money, and because of that the vast majority of Players are under guaranteed contracts. The Players position is that if teams were to switch and have a hard cap it would also likely mean the end of guaranteed long-term deals for middle and lower tier players; as teams would lock up their stars forever and then annually fill in their roster around the stars. This is why Billy Hunter has the Players claiming that they are willing to lose the season instead of going for that.