[Tim49461Participant]

 I was pondering this question when other users bring up the Thunder’s condition with Harden and Ibaka going to be looking for max to near max contracts. 

Do you believe Teams pull under the table contracts so they can sign players.  Offering them $80mil to max player then having their endorsements pick up the tab on the rest of the contract?  

I don’t see it being illegal, or why it isnt done more often.  It would allow companies to actually buy teams a championship.  Imagine Lebron, Wade, Bosh all taking 80 million then Nike throws in extra $20 million.  This would allow the heat to fill the bench or even offer another contract to a star player. 

[DeShawns PotentialParticipant]

 

[tdc320Participant]

NBA Punishes Timberwolves for Secret Deal with Smith

 

http://www.nba.com/news/smith_wolves_001025.html

[B-ball fanParticipant]

 Players will endorse companies anyways and get contracts with businesses.  Most players will want max contracts or the largest they can get, as will their agents.  This doesn’t really benefit the players, so it probably won’t happen.  Which is a good thing, as it is of very shady ethical nature.  Especially since it ownly is beneficial if a couple of teams are able to pull it off.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I guess I was the only one who thought DeShawns Potential’s meme was kind of funny.

Tim, the problem with that is, the shoe companies would than pretty much be part of team ownership. As they have numerous athletes and markets in which these athletes play in, that could be bad for business. Same goes for anyone endorsing them, really, unless it is a crazy die hard billionaire fan (those tend to be called "owners", who do not like paying ridiculous luxury tax).

I mean, it may not be the worst thing in the world, it just would make the game far less interesting. The fact that the Heat are still having a hard time winning a title while combining forces through free agency at least shows that the cap helps make things a tad more competitive. If they were allowed to throw money at a big name center, than I think other teams would be even more pissed off at the way they were constructed.

When Minnesota tried to strike the under the table Joe Wolf deal, it was pretty obvious. I remember Kevin McHale even joking about it before it happened. They got fined 3.5 million (think it would be more now) and lost 3 1st round picks (could have been 5, but two were returned). That seems like fair incentive not to repeat the action.

In my younger days, I wondered why the best players did indeed not take less money to play together. Just thought it would be pretty cool and that it would help them win games. Now, I realize that this is a business. These guys are part of it and want to do as well as possible while they have the chance. Winning is incredibly important to a majority of these guys, they are competitors. Still, if you are a top player, you want to be paid as such.

The Thunder might be in a tight situation with their projected cap issue regarding the re-signing of James Harden (who certainly seems to be aiming at close to max money) and Serge Ibaka (who I believe market dictates will make at least more money than DeAndre Jordan). The Celtics managed to keep 4 guys making over 8 figures, though it cost them Kendrick Perkins eventually in the process.

The Thunder will have to figure this out, but my guess is that under the table money would be fairly obvious and probably hurt them much like it did the Timberwolves, who were not close to as good. They will need to figure it out, but my guess is they dump some salary and try to keep their young core together. The Blazers would have been in this similar situation if everything went according to plan (ugh). Truly, the Thunder still will have Harden and Ibaka under rookie contract next year as well, so they could either try to make a run again or trade them for younger players still under rookie contract or other assets (picks?). Still, in the end they will have to make the same rough decisions any team makes under cap stipulation. Doubt anyone else will be picking up the tab.

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