OKC Thunder: 5 key issues players cite for hesitancy to restart season

Financial Impact on OKC Thunder and league:

As several analysts have noted there isn’t the same incentive for all players from the 22 teams to return. Specifically, the hurdles the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns need to clear just to capture the ninth seed are substantial. Given that knowledge, it’s understandable why players from those teams wouldn’t be as amped to travel to the bubble and be isolated for 35 to 40  days knowing they are unlikely to play in the postseason.

We can debate the decision of the NBA allowing those two teams to participate but the big picture is clearly tied to the hit the league is taking financially. Aside from the fact, the league is losing approximately 40 percent of its revenue because fans aren’t in attendance there are other factors at play.

Markets have regional television deals with most needing 70 games played to fulfill their contracts. When the league decided to suspend play teams had played between 63 and 67 games.

Yet, the financial hit the NBA would take in the future would be drastic if the season weren’t resumed. Bobby Marks tweet provides the main points which are $1.2 billion in player salaries or 35 percent of their total pay and $2 billion in revenue for the league.

The more relevant point is if the players chose to not return the league could cite the caveat of force majeure and tear up the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement. With the league and NBPA forced to renegotiate a deal it would also likely mean the BOG would want a less friendly split – – the current split is 50-50.

https://twitter.com/bobbymarks42/status/1271620910554939392?s=21

Notably, during the conference call, Chris Paul and other NBPA members were on hand to provide these details and CJ McCollum was cited in Sham Charania’s paid-for subscription The Athletic article for bringing this point up.