This summer, under the collective bargaining agreement the league has finally wrapped its head around, free agency has been a dud. The best free agents to change teams have been Myles Turner, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Dorian Finney-Smith \u2013 a trio of players who have a combined zero All-Star selections.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the Warriors are one of just two teams yet to strike a deal, they\u2019re not alone in relative inactivity. The new collective bargaining agreement has sapped the hype out of the free agency period, putting more of an emphasis on trades and contract extensions. In the punitive apron system, money has dried up and so has the free agency frenzy associated with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that the NBA has a player movement problem. In the past six months, Luka Doncic was traded to the Lakers, the Rockets traded for Kevin Durant, the Warriors swung their blockbuster for Jimmy Butler. It\u2019s that what used to be a summer event \u2014 free agency \u2014 is suddenly defined by inertia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Supply and demand are symbiotic when it comes to free agency. There aren\u2019t any superstars hitting free agency because there aren\u2019t any teams with cap space to pay them (besides Brooklyn). Teams didn\u2019t bother to clear cap space because they weren\u2019t any superstars hitting the open market. It\u2019s causation more than correlation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this summer doesn\u2019t feel like a one-off, and that\u2019s because of the collective bargaining agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Too afraid of big-spenders such as Joe Lacob and the Clippers\u2019 Steve Ballmer, NBA owners negotiated what is now effectively a hard cap to protect themselves from overspending. The players association, either misunderstanding the agreement or prioritizing the top-level stars who stood to benefit from the new system, obliged.\u00a0<\/p>\n