With the number of buyouts and players joining contenders before the playoffs, it has raised a lot of concern to other general managers and front office executives around the league. They have reportedly requested a dialogue with the NBA to come up with new guidelines and make sure there's still parity among all franchises.
According to a piece from Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, a majority of the executives have requested the good office of commissioner Adam Silver to add this controversial topic to the agenda of their meeting next month. They have identified some “negative” byproducts of buyouts and feel that they have altered the rule, just to make sure they have an even more formidable lineup heading into the postseason.
“A majority of the league’s executives and several owners attached support to a letter sent to the NBA’s New York offices recently that requests an agenda item on the buyout process be included as part of the general managers’ meetings in May with the NBA, league sources said.
“Among the issues that general managers believe are negative byproducts of the buyout process system now, league sources told The Vertical: the suppression of trade activity, creating an environment of tampering, lessening the purpose of cap room and exceptions, possible salary-cap circumvention and poor optics for fans and sponsors.”
It was also raised that some of the general managers felt that there have been prearranged buyouts and that some teams may have been working together to make the signings possible.
“General managers want to find a way to stop pre-arranged deals post-buyout with teams, which might give more clubs the chance to sign a buyout player who has cleared waivers.”
Should there be changes to the rules about contract buyouts and the waiver process, it could definitely have a huge effect on the composition of teams today and also make a difference on how they sign and draft players. One advantage that can be seen from it though, is the parity it would bring and better competition among all teams. It remains to be seen what will transpire during the discussion, and will be very interesting to see how what changes will be made after they meet.
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