NBA
Earlier today Kurt Helin of Probasketballtalk.com brought up the idea that the implementation of the new luxury tax rules in 2014 could backfire. The luxury tax, if implemented this year, would cost the Los Angeles Lakers $52 million for being just $16 million over the luxury tax threshold. Helin gives his opinion of what the new rules will do:
But what it will do — whether you built your team like the Heat or Thunder did — is force you to break it up sooner or have stars with no real talent around them. Is that good for the league? Especially a league that sells stars? I think it backfires.
Helin is probably going to end up being correct in his assumption. While many small market owners pushed for the rules to try to bring a sense of parity to the league and keep teams like New York, Miami and Los Angeles from buying their stars. Having a little parity and having more teams involved in the playoff hunt would be a great thing for the league. What won't be great is the increased number of LeBron in Cleveland situations.
Obviously their won't be another LeBron James anytime soon, but the idea is still the same. Small market teams won't be able to surround their star player (or players) with a good enough supporting cast in fear of being hit hard with taxes. This will lead to many small market teams falling just short of winning a championship and eventually leading to their star player leaving.
