Max contracts link

I found Christopher Reina's article on max contracts to be a concise and informative link.

Rubio updates

Though I no longer have the Spanish skills to translate, apparently, this article states Rubio has accepted that if he plays in the NBA it will be with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Additionally, it is being reported that Rubio's issue is not so much playing in Minnesota, as it is about paying the Juventut buyout. Ric Bucher of ESPN is reporting Juventut wants no less than $4 million. Rubio will make about $600,000 less per year based on the slide from the third pick to fifth pick. Also, keep in mind the Wolves can pay up to $500,000 of the buyout. Rubio will have to pay a substantial amount of the buyout, but if he were picked higher in the draft, it would only make up a fraction of the difference.

Marbury update

Previously, I blogged about Stephon Marbury using the NBPA as his agent. Now, Marbury is looking at his options to play basketball overseas. It is not clear whether Hal Biagas is still helping him with this endeavor, but it seems odd that Marbury could use the NBPA to negotiate an overseas contract. Would the NBPA help Josh Childress negotiate an extension? You have to wonder where the NBPA will draw the line. 

For a contrarian view (to mine), see the Sports Law Blog. Michael McCann posts about Marbury's recent use of the players' union  and fellow blogger, Rick Karcher, has written a law review article advocating the use of the union as agents for the individual players. I always thought this was an interesting idea, but never thought it was realistic. I guess I will have to check out Karcher's article now.

Salary Cap for 09-10 set

The NBA is setting the 2009-2010 salary cap at $57.7 M. Of potentially bigger news, the NBA is forecasting next year's salary cap at between $50.4M and $53.6M.

Also, not surprisingly, the NBPA is upset. Of course, there is no reason why the players should not share in the economic downturn. With guaranteed contracts, they have supreme job security. Additionally, the NBPA negotiated the CBA.

For more reading see: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4312837.

This link did a good job of breaking down some of the effects of the lowered salary cap and escrowed funds. The owners hedged their exposure for what was probably a very unlikely condition. I know the first time I read about the escrow system I thought it would never apply.