Earlier this week NBA fans rejoiced in song as the NBA and NBPA announced they had come to a tentative agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The two sides will have until January 13, 2017 to have lawyers peruse the details and ultimately ratify the deal.
In the meantime a lot has been made in regard to the future effects of this new CBA in terms of the NBA, and since the D-League is becoming a more integral part of the league as a whole The Step Back wanted to breakdown the ramifications for the NBA’s minor league as well.
The elephant in the room has long been salaries in the NBA D-League. As it stands there are two salary levels (A and B) in the league with options of $19,500 or $26,000 for players to sign. Clearly this is not ideal for players, but the opportunity of playing in an Erie BayHawks jersey one night and a Los Angeles Lakers jersey the next is what keeps players in the league. The new CBA was rumored to include salary increases for the league as a whole and it turns out that is not the case. However, there are still going to be benefits of this new deal for D-League players.
Two-way contracts are here
The new change with seemingly the largest effect on the D-League and its players is the advent of two-way contracts. NBA teams will now have two additional roster spots (17 total now) to stash whomever they wish and most importantly retain their player rights. Right now the D-League is akin to the wild west, because almost every player is a free agent in the eyes of the NBA. For example, the Indiana Pacers had Alex Poythress in training camp, but opted to waive him thus allocating him as an affiliate player for their NBADL team, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Though he played with them in camp and plays with their affiliate, any NBA club can sign him at any time.
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Now NBA teams can opt to retain up to two players, still play them in the D-League if they are not ready to contribute at the NBA level, and not have the fear of another team swooping in on their investment. While overall salaries did not rise, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported two-way players will earn $50,000 to $75,000 for their exploits.
The trade off here is those players will earn more, but give up the opportunity to be called up by any of the 30 NBA franchises. The other detail to point out is there are now 60 additional roster spots to be filled and while some of those will be taken by international players, the majority will be fringe players who would likely have played in the D-League regardless.
Money, money, money
Salaries did not rise and that’s disappointing. However, like in the NBA, earning potential for the players called up from the D-League will be higher than ever. Call up season generally kicks off January 5 each year, because that’s the date NBA teams can sign players to 10-day contracts. These contracts are based off of the NBA minimum while weighing NBA tenure for each player signed. In the new CBA NBA minimums are rising at a 45-50 percent clip which will in turn raise the value of those 10-day contracts.
This is important!
Last season 32 D-League call ups earned a combined $4.7 million. With these new minimums that number would skyrocket to just over $7 million with the average call up earning just over $205,000! These might sound like chump change when placed in comparison to NBA salaries, but for players earning $26,000 or less, those are potentially life-altering salaries.
This chart projects the new NBA minimums and subsequent 10-day contracts for next season. Most of the players who earn a 10-day contract, stay on back-to-back contracts so double that “new money” figure in most instances and it’s easy to see the new earning potential.
The D-League is not designed as a career league and while the expectation was for all player salaries to rise to the $50,000 to $75,000 range, the new CBA does ultimately help those elite, fringe guys who earn NBA deals.
“One-and-done” sticks around
Another interesting wrinkle in the new CBA is the “one-and-done” rule staying put. The NBPA proposed a new rule where high school players would again be draft eligible, but if a player chose to attend college, then they had to stay at least two years — much like the MLB model. The owners did not go for it and thus here we stand with no changes in terms of this rule.
This could potentially effect the D-League if more top flight prospects decide to forego college before the draft. The NBA’s age limit is 19-years old, or one year removed from high school, while the D-League’s age limit is just 18-years old. This season a potential 2017 lottery pick named Terrance Ferguson skipped the college route and instead signed in Australia to play. There he’s making just over six figures and is eligible for endorsement deals as well.
Is it possible some of these players could choose the D-League to stay close to home and work on their craft leading up to the following year’s NBA draft? Yes, and no. Elite prospects like Ferguson will likely opt for leagues where they can earn more than $26,000 and still be drafted. There is precedent for these moves with Brandon Jennings and Emmanuel Mudiay as well.
If the overall salaries in the D-League has risen to around $75,000, then this would have been much more likely, but since players who are draft eligible could not be on two-way deals (or be called up) their earning potential stays quite low.
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