Wilt Chamberlain
With the economy tanking, and few teams having any significant cap space, teams are going to be spending less money this summer than they have in years.
“Teams are going to be looking to shed salaries, not take on contracts,” said one Eastern Conference executive. “There’s already a huge concern about next season in terms of ticket sales, suite sales and corporate sponsorships. Those are the three areas, primarily. With the way the economy is going, pro basketball will be no different than the rest of the business world. Teams’ salary budgets and coaching budgets are going to drop. So this is not a very good summer to be a free agent.”
This could be the beginning of a league-wide drive to reduce salaries over the next few years. There is already talk that the NBA will try to eliminate the mid-level exception, currently with a starting salary of $5.6 million, while also putting an end to the veteran minimum of $1.2 million.
