Talks between the NBA and NBPA continue in New York today, and have reached what many consider to be a critical but potentially productive stage.
Discussions apparently took a big leap forward when the league unveiled a new proposal that does not include the dreaded "hard" salary cap. They've substituted a revised luxury tax system with far more punitive charges for exceeding pre-set salary levels, the levels themselves and the penalties involved have not been revealed as of yet.
I'm highly skeptical of such a system. Bear in mind, the league implemented the current luxury tax structure thinking the dollar-for-dollar tax on salaries above a certain level would act as a brake on payrolls. But many teams simply accepted the tax as part of the cost of doing business. Will higher taxes do a better job of slowing salary growth? For some teams, probably... but as Tim Donahue points out, the Lakers and Knicks have a massive edge in revenue, even compared with successful big-market teams like Houston, Chicago and Boston. Even a three-for-one tax wouldn't hurt Jerry Buss' profit margin all that much.
Obviously, many of the details have yet to emerge. But as described, it is hard to see this proposal as anything but a hard cap on everyone except the Lakers and Knicks.
Of course, that may be the point. The players have insisted all along that they will not accept any deal with a hard cap. Technically, this deal doesn't. If it is combined with a percentage-based split of league revenue - one that allows the players to share in the league's growth over the life of the next CBA - this could become the basis for a deal.
Time is running short - the scheduled start of the season is just over a month away. If there's no deal by the end of this week, the likelihood that regular-season games will be lost grows exponentially.
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