| 05 July 2011
Remember this? I bet you do.
Who could forget right? Even though LeBron's legacy is yet to be written, I really feel like his place in NBA lore is well on it's way to being complete. Love him or hate him (LeBron's Jersey is the #1 selling jersey afterall), he seems destined for a statistical career elavating him to the top tier of the great G/Fs of all time. The Big question remains if he will win a championship, or how many, but there are some things we know for certain. 1 - LeBron is and may be the most athletically gifted to play in the NBA. 2 - LeBron's Agent (as well as Bosh's and Wade's) helped LeBron make this situation available to him, and while everyone thinks building the super team was in the works all along maybe the agent simply looking at the financial landscape and capitalizing on the salary opportunities while they were still available. Now that the lockout is here, and shit is about to hit the fan on player salaries, sure seems smart that Bosh, Wade and LeBron all became Free Agents the year before a new CBA had to be negotiated right? Right?
Remember how LeBron signed that 3 year extension (player option for year 4) in 2006? Well, thanks to the power of the interweb, this article written by TheClevelandFan.com in July of 2006 provides some interesting quotes:
We did extensive research and with the way the CBA is set up, it makes the most business sense to sign this extension and then look at another new contract in four years. If I didn't believe in this team and this organization and the direction that we're headed, I wouldn't have signed the extension, James said.
Interesting. I wonder what would happen to James in 4 years? Well, according to this espn.com article, I think LeBron/Wade and Bosh picked a good summer to become free agents.
LeBron James: 6 years, $110.1 million dollars.
Chris Bosh: 6 years, $110.1 million dollars.
Dwayne Wade: 6 years, $107.5 million dollars.
Now, admittedly, all 3 could have made more money (a la Joe Johnson) if they didn't care about playing together. But, when you are guaranteed to make over $100 million dollars wouldn't you rather play on a really good team as well? Most people would (except Joe Johnson). And they all can opt out in 2014 if they want. Crazy.
In a 2006 Article about Wade: The same shit appears again...
It was widely reported in recent days that Wade agreed to sign a five-year extension with the Heat, but no such pact was ever in place. Instead, this deal gives Wade the chance to secure another long-term extension before the NBA's current collective bargaining agreement expires...Wade signed a long-awaited contract extension on Wednesday. The deal is for three seasons, beginning in 2007-08, and has a player option for a fourth year -- much like the one agreed to earlier Wednesday by LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers
Bosh, the same thing:
Chris Bosh signed a three-year contract extension with the Raptors on Friday beginning in 2007-08, with a player option for a fourth year. Bosh signed a deal similar to fellow class of 2003 stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who bypassed five-year deals for three years with an option for a fourth and the chance to become free agents sooner and potentially make more money.
That's right, LeBron first, Wade second and finally Bosh all signed similar deals. Which is why they were all able to sign ridiculous max deals, with salary figures that probably won't be available again for some time. Have you seen some of the projections for contracts AFTER the new CBA? It doesn't look pretty. Even the best players will feel the pinch, not just the Brian Cardinals and Edie Curry's of the world.
Where did it all go wrong? How did we get to this point? In the next piece of this series, we will take a look back at the real reason why Stephon Marbury left Minnesota. And it wasn't all about the cold, or his level of batshit crazy-ness.
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