Are NBA teams regaining the upper hand in negotiations with restricted free agents?
The NBA — not unlike the rest of pro sports leagues — has more and more become a “player’s league” in the sense that stars control their own destinies, including with regard to contract negotiations.
We’re seeing max players in the NBA hold incredible leverage, but the same can’t be said for restricted free agents who aren’t in the tier of max money.
Players like Jonathan Kuminga and Josh Giddey (both still unsigned) are the most recent examples of this landscape, which has been greatly impacted by the new collective bargaining agreement’s apron rules.
On Thursday, Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes lent some insight into the new normal, discussing how, when it comes to restricted free agents, teams — not players — are in the driver’s seat.
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“It’s unusual that four key restricted free agents—Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey, Cam Thomas and Quentin Grimes—seem nowhere close to getting offer sheets or new contracts with September just around the corner,” Hughes wrote on Thursday.
“Soon enough, that’ll be the norm as the apron era progresses and teams continue to carve out stronger negotiating positions. For several years, rookie-scale extensions felt like foregone conclusions. Potential superstars will continue to get their maxes, but we’re clearly seeing players in the next tier down struggle to land the kinds of deals that used to be rubber-stamped.”
“The plight of the RFA owes to the collective bargaining agreement’s punitive tax and apron provisions,” Hughes continued. “Teams are more wary than ever of overspending, which means those second contracts are much harder to get than they used to be. Restricted free agency already gave incumbent teams a powerful tool in the form of matching rights.”
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“Even when spending was freer, teams would occasionally force their RFAs to establish their market values by getting an outside offer sheet,” Hughes added. “Now, with few teams possessing cap space and even fewer eager to tie up their funds with offer sheets that might get matched anyway, restricted free agents are getting squeezed harder than ever. This is a boon for teams but a potentially severe earnings-diminisher for players.”
RFA situations like Kuminga’s tend to have a domino effect. For instance, while a myriad of reports have indicated that free agent center Al Horford is prepared to sign an offer sheet with the Golden State Warriors, the Warriors can’t proceed with a Horford deal until they know the type of money Kuminga is (or isn’t) getting.