The Morning According to Us

The NBA's massive salaries may be a bubble set to pop.

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A lot of people could lose a series knowing they were about to save $34 million.

Aside from the fact that it has sent shockwaves through the economy and made poor some once-proud institutions, there is always something a little bit reassuring about the inevitable recession that must follow a boom. It's that many things that seem so disturbingly too good to be true…you find out really were. Hundred-plus million dollar bonuses really were insane. Making lesser quality cars that are often more expensive and unwieldly to produce and hampered by destructive labor contracts for over two decades can actually dent the bottom line, or (gasp!) cause a run-in with bankruptcy. Paying Stephon Marbury or Jamaal Tinsley millions of dollars to stay home isn't really good for business. Who knew?

In the current issue of The Mag, Ric Bucher notes that Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf told John Paxson earlier this year that to trade for John Salmons and Brad Miller meant the team had to make the second round of the playoffs. That's because the trade added to the Bulls payroll, and playoff games make money. This was even when the Bulls were somewhat out of the picture in terms of being a serious playoff contender.

These things cost money.

And max contracts for mid-level players may take a hit. Even massive deals for great players could suffer. For years NBA salaries have escalated to the point where a massive deal for a player like Brian Cardinal was greeted with a shrug. But the league ain't making that kind of money right now. Ticket sales are way down, the league is dishing out loans for general operating costs and the reality that we've been basking in a salary fantasyland seems to be setting in. GMs like Joe Dumars have set their teams up to see massive amounts of money to come off the books this summer. Flexibility is paramount.

The thing is, NBA players should make a premium over some other sports. It's an issue of scarcity. Teams only pay between 13 and 15 players. An NFL team will pay 53 for Sunday, many more coaches, plus a small army of practice squad guys that jump in and out and move around all year. The NHL and MLB both also pay far more players, and develop them differently.

Still, when these playoffs end, some teams that simply said, "Hey, we ain't going to win this year, so we're not going to spend the money and kill the books for the next two years" may actually be the biggest winners.

When times get tough, you tend to forget to be thankful about what you have and start to worry more about what you owe.

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