NBA
A New NBA Salary System
My most recent article sparked interest from my readership. While the article was admittedly a thought experiment, I have begun to think more complexly in terms of how an equalized NBA salary system could be implemented.
Use PER as the Base Pay Rate
It’s too simplistic to advocate a model that pays NBA players the “same.” Players need economic incentives to motivate themselves to produce. So a simple hybrid model would use PER performance as the base pay rate, and the higher your PER, the more money you make. All across the board.
For example, if a player produces so efficiently that his PER is over 20.0, he would earn the highest NBA salary on his respective team. A player whose PER is between 17.0 – 19.99 would earn a lesser rate, and so forth. Essentially you are creating a series of performance tranches — the more you produce, the more you get paid. Names don’t matter. Only numbers.
What if a player plays terrible defense?
Deductions for Bad Defense
A major problem with the current pay structure is that players with max contracts often play little to no team defense, which is why star players often make their teams WORSE. Max contracts are usually awarded to OFFENSIVE players, so players are incentivized to procure offense. It’s logical.
What if the NBA PUNISHED players for bad team defense economically? The NBA should implement a model where players endure pay DEDUCTIONS based on +/-. So if a player scores 25, but the team gives up 11 points when he plays, he will be penalized 11 units of pay from his next check. He would also gain BONUSES for making a positive impact.
Think of it like Pavlovian conditioning for NBA employees. A player’s share of the profits is given when he helps the company’s bottom line. Also, a player would take a share of the losses when he contributes to the company’s poor performance.
If NBA players truly want to be thought of as “partners”, they should share equally in the failures as well as the successes.
Incentive Above Everything
Honestly, it’s ridiculous that an effective player like Pascal Siakam makes $1.5 million this season, while a terrible player like Chandler Parsons makes $24 million this year. By making compensation contingent on productivity, it could change the entire league and provide fairness for all.
After years of watching scorers torch Carmelo Anthony’s pathetic defense, it would be satisfying to know that he would be losing money every single game.
No more albatross contracts. Better yet, no more contracts at all. No more underpaid star rookies. Also, no more star players refusing to play defense. No more trade demands to make more money. No more spiked player performances during contract years, followed by subsequent partying once a multi-year max contract is signed.
Just fair and equitable pay for the best, efficient players. It makes so much sense that there’s no way it’ll happen.
Welcome to the modern NBA.
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