The investigation into Kawhi Leonard has sparked thousands of questions and hypotheses, each typically paired with a proposed solution to try to resolve the issue. Yet none are as drastic as the one proposed by Draymond Green on his podcast The Draymond Green Show. The Warriors forward has been blunt. If these ploys emerge as a way to dodge the salary cap, why not eliminate it?
“If the punishment isn’t severe, everyone should do the same. If they’re merely going to issue a slap on the wrist, all players should give it a try,” said the Warriors forward, who then shifted to a different topic: “I think people are asking the wrong questions, and what this whole case raises is a doubt about the salary cap.”
“There is no salary cap in baseball and the league is doing well. Players who deserve massive contracts get them, and those who don’t, don’t. This is part of a broader conversation we need to have. Everyone wonders what the punishment will be, but what if the punishment is to remove the salary cap?”
“We’re playing in a league where a franchise just sold for $12.5 billion, 14 months after being bought for $10 billion. If you can make $2.5 billion in a sale in one year, what is the point of a salary cap?”
Open War?
The reality is that imagining such a drastic change as the one Green proposes is difficult. Salary norms are the bedrock of the NBA as we know it, and scrapping them could unleash a cascade of consequences that Draymond might not even be envisioning. It’s likely something that would only boost the wages of a small fraction of players in exchange for allowing a substantial imbalance in the relative balance and equality that the system currently sustains.
Yet these statements are intriguing because, in a way, they reflect how the battle between players and owners over how the pie is shared has intensified. As the consequences of the new collective bargaining agreement have begun to become evident, the notion that players have been significantly harmed has become more widespread, and it’s natural that someone like Green, who was already highly critical when it was announced, would want to broaden the conversation.
