Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
NBA commissioner David Stern offered a new proposal to the players' union in Tuesday's labor talks that modestly budged from the owners' long-held position on establishing a hard cap, according to league sources familiar with the negotiations.
Sources told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher that the owners did not offer players a finite annual team limit on salaries but as of Tuesday night were willing to relax the cap only if the following conditions are met:
•The "Larry Bird exception," which allows teams to exceed the cap to retain their own free agents regardless of their other committed salaries, is limited to one player per team per season.
•The mid-level exception, which the league valued at $7.4 million last season and could be extended by as many as five years, is reduced in length and size.
•The current luxury tax, the $1-for-$1 penalty a team must pay to the league for the amount it exceeds the salary cap, is to be severely increased.
The owners easing up on their demand for a hard cap is good news, but as Bucher points out, there are a ton of sticking points.
In addition to all the items above, the BRI issue still needs to be resolved.
I smell progress…
The rest of the links:
Yahoo! – NBA owners budget on hard cap | LA Times: Worthy laments poor pass in 84 Finals |
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