Doug Gottlieb: “When the next collective bargaining agreement comes out, you watch, half the owners will be split saying ‘we can’t put up with this nonsense, we can’t make money on simply being a farm system for the bigger name teams.’”
Listen to Doug Gottlieb discuss why he believes small market basketball teams don’t stand a chance in the modern NBA as the game’s greatest players continuously steer themselves towards the most luscious media markets in an era where player mobility is often driven by player branding a lot more than the will to win.
Paul George’s sudden and unexpected exodus off the Oklahoma City Thunder in pursuit of a super team with Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers was a grim reminder of how small market teams better rely strictly on Draft picks if they have any chance to win at a high level.
Just ask the New Orleans Pelicans, whose future Hall of Fame forward Anthony Davis bolted town in infamous fashion, with the franchise very fortunate to be granted the no. 1 overall pick to draft Duke phenom Zion Williamson.
Check out the audio below as Gottlieb says the league better start establishing language in their next collective bargaining agreement that amends the league’s ‘soft cap’ and uses Major League Baseball’s visionary ‘luxury tax’ to police big market teams successfully hoarding the best players.
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