Author Topic: LeBron James doesn’t think it’s possible to be paid his actual value under CBA  (Read 14293 times)

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Offline wdleehi

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Its actually a pretty cool sentiment.

Agreed, right up until the point that he complained about it.

If he wanted to be paid like a baseball player, he should have played baseball.  FWIW, although I have respect of James as a player, and don't care for him overall, I don't see this as all that different from when Latrell Sprewell famously made the statement "I got my family to feed." after calling an offer of only 27-30 million dollars insulting.


Lebron agreed to take less to have better teammates.


Spree never signed a contract. 

Offline kozlodoev

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So, how much money will he be able to make if the league didn't exist in its current form? Yeah, I thought so.
And how much money would the league lose if all the top stars disappeared? 

Notice he is not asking for more money.  Just stating an opinion (which I think he is right about)
He has every chance to disappear, if he so desires. He hasn't, so this is not the issue. On the other hand, playing a bunch of irrelevant games that undermine the product is a very real issue -- just watch some baseball.

That is really interesting. You're saying that baseball's extended season (and profits because of it) actually undermine the quality of the product, so people watch it less?

That is very interesting. I cannot believe I have never heard that before.

Seriously, no sarcasm.
Let me rephrase that a bit, because it didn't come out right.

I'm saying that the current cap structure allows more teams to be competitive. Relax the salary cap, and there are two scenarios that are probable: (1) half of the teams are like the Miami Heat; however, they play most of their games against the equivalent of the Charlotte Bobcats, or (2) the league is 16 teams; more likely, since I don't think all of the franchises would be able to stay in business.

In both cases, it's likely that the pie will be smaller, so while LeBron may be getting paid more relative to overall league revenue, it's unclear to me that he'll actually be paid more.

Baseball was just an illustrative example of a sport where low-budget teams are in clearly disadvantaged position, even though most of them actually manage to muddle along.
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Offline slamtheking

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in terms of his value to the NBA and the Heat, he's absolutely right.

in terms of his value to society in general, he's grossly overpaid but that's true of all athletes and celebrities/entertainers

Offline kozlodoev

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in terms of his value to the NBA and the Heat, he's absolutely right.

in terms of his value to society in general, he's grossly overpaid but that's true of all athletes and celebrities/entertainers
His value to society is squarely determined by what the society is equal to pay for entertainment. People have the option to watch Joe Schmoe for half the price in their local indoor league, but quite clearly choose to pay more to watch LeBron James.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

Online Neurotic Guy

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There is one aspect of Lebron's self-assessment that perhaps he doesn't take into account when considering his compensation v. his value.  It's a component that many NBA players may take for granted and perhaps don't really appreciate in terms of its value.  I am speaking of the long-term, guaranteed contract.

Lebron James will receive about $80M over the next 4 years (if he decides to play out this contract).   Every single day one of a hundred things could happen to him that could cause him to be unspeakably OVERPAID.  That is actual value as far as I am concerned. 

Unlike the rest of us, Lebron will receive a paycheck for the next 4 years no matter what.  As a comparison, I as a self-employed person will not make a penny tomorrow if I am for any reason unable to perform my tasks.  Many of you have the benefit of being compensated for sick time and get paid while on vacation.  But how many of you have a guaranteed contract for the next 4 years? 4 weeks?

Lebron may be underpaid for the reasons already stated, but I doubt when he speaks of his circumstances that he takes into account the unbelievable benefit of the guarantee of $20M over the next 4 years regardless of whether he is injured, otherwise rendered unable to play, or if his skills deteriortate.


Offline Eja117

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In the news recently, Lebron discussed how he is vastly underpaid. I think he is right. If basketball was like baseball and didn't have a salary cap, how much would Lebron command a year? I'm thinking $30-40 million sounds about right...

Now, him bringing this topic up is a whole other story.
There are totally teams willing to pay this...in Russia. So if he wants it he can go there.

Offline Fan from VT

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So, how much money will he be able to make if the league didn't exist in its current form? Yeah, I thought so.
And how much money would the league lose if all the top stars disappeared? 

Notice he is not asking for more money.  Just stating an opinion (which I think he is right about)
He has every chance to disappear, if he so desires. He hasn't, so this is not the issue. On the other hand, playing a bunch of irrelevant games that undermine the product is a very real issue -- just watch some baseball.

That is really interesting. You're saying that baseball's extended season (and profits because of it) actually undermine the quality of the product, so people watch it less?

That is very interesting. I cannot believe I have never heard that before.

Seriously, no sarcasm.
Let me rephrase that a bit, because it didn't come out right.

I'm saying that the current cap structure allows more teams to be competitive. Relax the salary cap, and there are two scenarios that are probable: (1) half of the teams are like the Miami Heat; however, they play most of their games against the equivalent of the Charlotte Bobcats, or (2) the league is 16 teams; more likely, since I don't think all of the franchises would be able to stay in business.

In both cases, it's likely that the pie will be smaller, so while LeBron may be getting paid more relative to overall league revenue, it's unclear to me that he'll actually be paid more.

Baseball was just an illustrative example of a sport where low-budget teams are in clearly disadvantaged position, even though most of them actually manage to muddle along.

I want to point out that posters in this forum are not advocating relaxing the salary cap in order to pay players like James more money, but rather keeping the cap as is but removing the individual max contract. This would actually increase parity in your example, because instead of choosing to play with other superstars for 16 million vs on their own team for 17.5 million, keeping the cap but removing the individual max would mean players are deciding whether to play with other superstars for 16 million vs on their own team for 25-40 million. And in that case, one team would only be able to afford 1 or 2 such players, so maybe the Bobcats would have one.

Offline CelticConcourse

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LeBron is worth tens of millions simply for his revenue.
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Offline slamtheking

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in terms of his value to the NBA and the Heat, he's absolutely right.

in terms of his value to society in general, he's grossly overpaid but that's true of all athletes and celebrities/entertainers
His value to society is squarely determined by what the society is equal to pay for entertainment. People have the option to watch Joe Schmoe for half the price in their local indoor league, but quite clearly choose to pay more to watch LeBron James.
says a lot about society doesn't it that entertainers can actually make the amount of $ they make

Offline CelticConcourse

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in terms of his value to the NBA and the Heat, he's absolutely right.

in terms of his value to society in general, he's grossly overpaid but that's true of all athletes and celebrities/entertainers
His value to society is squarely determined by what the society is equal to pay for entertainment. People have the option to watch Joe Schmoe for half the price in their local indoor league, but quite clearly choose to pay more to watch LeBron James.
says a lot about society doesn't it that entertainers can actually make the amount of $ they make

It really doesn't say much... at all.... explicate please
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Offline fairweatherfan

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in terms of his value to the NBA and the Heat, he's absolutely right.

in terms of his value to society in general, he's grossly overpaid but that's true of all athletes and celebrities/entertainers
His value to society is squarely determined by what the society is equal to pay for entertainment. People have the option to watch Joe Schmoe for half the price in their local indoor league, but quite clearly choose to pay more to watch LeBron James.
says a lot about society doesn't it that entertainers can actually make the amount of $ they make

Don't think it says anything more than a lot of people like spending their free time and money on entertainment, and a lot of people find the same things entertaining.


And LeBron's right; he makes more money for his franchise than they could ever pay him under the CBA.  He recoups it in quite a few other ways, though.

Offline Chelm

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There is one aspect of Lebron's self-assessment that perhaps he doesn't take into account when considering his compensation v. his value.  It's a component that many NBA players may take for granted and perhaps don't really appreciate in terms of its value.  I am speaking of the long-term, guaranteed contract.

Lebron James will receive about $80M over the next 4 years (if he decides to play out this contract).   Every single day one of a hundred things could happen to him that could cause him to be unspeakably OVERPAID.  That is actual value as far as I am concerned. 

Unlike the rest of us, Lebron will receive a paycheck for the next 4 years no matter what.  As a comparison, I as a self-employed person will not make a penny tomorrow if I am for any reason unable to perform my tasks.  Many of you have the benefit of being compensated for sick time and get paid while on vacation.  But how many of you have a guaranteed contract for the next 4 years? 4 weeks?

Lebron may be underpaid for the reasons already stated, but I doubt when he speaks of his circumstances that he takes into account the unbelievable benefit of the guarantee of $20M over the next 4 years regardless of whether he is injured, otherwise rendered unable to play, or if his skills deteriortate.
Interesting point.




So, how much money will he be able to make if the league didn't exist in its current form? Yeah, I thought so.
And how much money would the league lose if all the top stars disappeared? 

Notice he is not asking for more money.  Just stating an opinion (which I think he is right about)
He has every chance to disappear, if he so desires. He hasn't, so this is not the issue. On the other hand, playing a bunch of irrelevant games that undermine the product is a very real issue -- just watch some baseball.

That is really interesting. You're saying that baseball's extended season (and profits because of it) actually undermine the quality of the product, so people watch it less?

That is very interesting. I cannot believe I have never heard that before.

Seriously, no sarcasm.
Let me rephrase that a bit, because it didn't come out right.

I'm saying that the current cap structure allows more teams to be competitive. Relax the salary cap, and there are two scenarios that are probable: (1) half of the teams are like the Miami Heat; however, they play most of their games against the equivalent of the Charlotte Bobcats, or (2) the league is 16 teams; more likely, since I don't think all of the franchises would be able to stay in business.

In both cases, it's likely that the pie will be smaller, so while LeBron may be getting paid more relative to overall league revenue, it's unclear to me that he'll actually be paid more.

Baseball was just an illustrative example of a sport where low-budget teams are in clearly disadvantaged position, even though most of them actually manage to muddle along.

I want to point out that posters in this forum are not advocating relaxing the salary cap in order to pay players like James more money, but rather keeping the cap as is but removing the individual max contract. This would actually increase parity in your example, because instead of choosing to play with other superstars for 16 million vs on their own team for 17.5 million, keeping the cap but removing the individual max would mean players are deciding whether to play with other superstars for 16 million vs on their own team for 25-40 million. And in that case, one team would only be able to afford 1 or 2 such players, so maybe the Bobcats would have one.
I'd be intrigued to see what would happen to the NBA if this came to pass.  Bosh + Joe Johnson or Lebron?  What would the theoretical "cap" be on an individual?

The top stars would likely have to accept less than their max offer if they ever hope to win a championship.  I'd imagine there'd be more 2004 Pistons championships in this system.

Offline tonyto3690

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I think he should have kept his mouth shut, all it does is make him seem like a whiner- no matter how true it is.

When you see guys like Asik get 8 mill per season, Lebron would easily command 40 million in a vaccuum "value" system.  LBJ is clearly head and shoulders better than anyone else in the NBA and it's not even close.  He's probably the third best offensive player behind Durant and Carmelo (it doesn't matter if you can't shoot threes if you can get a dunk every possession you want).  And he's by far the best defensive wing player in the NBA, probably also top 3 behind Chandler and KG. 

People don't give Lebron enough credit.  He is not simply the best in the world, he is a league above everyone else as far as I'm concerned.  His efficiency ratings and overall impact is completely absurd.

Offline KGs Knee

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There is one aspect of Lebron's self-assessment that perhaps he doesn't take into account when considering his compensation v. his value.  It's a component that many NBA players may take for granted and perhaps don't really appreciate in terms of its value.  I am speaking of the long-term, guaranteed contract.

Lebron James will receive about $80M over the next 4 years (if he decides to play out this contract).   Every single day one of a hundred things could happen to him that could cause him to be unspeakably OVERPAID.  That is actual value as far as I am concerned. 

Unlike the rest of us, Lebron will receive a paycheck for the next 4 years no matter what.  As a comparison, I as a self-employed person will not make a penny tomorrow if I am for any reason unable to perform my tasks.  Many of you have the benefit of being compensated for sick time and get paid while on vacation.  But how many of you have a guaranteed contract for the next 4 years? 4 weeks?

Lebron may be underpaid for the reasons already stated, but I doubt when he speaks of his circumstances that he takes into account the unbelievable benefit of the guarantee of $20M over the next 4 years regardless of whether he is injured, otherwise rendered unable to play, or if his skills deteriortate.

I think you over-blowing this tremdously.  There is nothing in the CBA that says all contracts must be garaunteed.  In fact, there are plenty of contracts in the NBA that are only partially garaunteed.

LeBron has a fully garaunteed contract because he's that darn good, and his talents are not easily replaced.  When you have an ability to do something better than pretty much anyone else in the wolrd, you get to name your price (to a point).

Online Neurotic Guy

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There is one aspect of Lebron's self-assessment that perhaps he doesn't take into account when considering his compensation v. his value.  It's a component that many NBA players may take for granted and perhaps don't really appreciate in terms of its value.  I am speaking of the long-term, guaranteed contract.

Lebron James will receive about $80M over the next 4 years (if he decides to play out this contract).   Every single day one of a hundred things could happen to him that could cause him to be unspeakably OVERPAID.  That is actual value as far as I am concerned. 

Unlike the rest of us, Lebron will receive a paycheck for the next 4 years no matter what.  As a comparison, I as a self-employed person will not make a penny tomorrow if I am for any reason unable to perform my tasks.  Many of you have the benefit of being compensated for sick time and get paid while on vacation.  But how many of you have a guaranteed contract for the next 4 years? 4 weeks?

Lebron may be underpaid for the reasons already stated, but I doubt when he speaks of his circumstances that he takes into account the unbelievable benefit of the guarantee of $20M over the next 4 years regardless of whether he is injured, otherwise rendered unable to play, or if his skills deteriortate.

I think you over-blowing this tremdously.  There is nothing in the CBA that says all contracts must be garaunteed.  In fact, there are plenty of contracts in the NBA that are only partially garaunteed.

LeBron has a fully garaunteed contract because he's that darn good, and his talents are not easily replaced.  When you have an ability to do something better than pretty much anyone else in the wolrd, you get to name your price (to a point).

Not overblowing this at all -- never mind tremendously.  Just making a true point -- multiple years of guaranteed money has value beyond the current numbers.