So says Matt Tolnick of HoopsHype. He suggests a system where players share in profits/losses alongside the owners:
So rather than assigning the players a fixed percentage of BRI annually (whether 45 percent, 57 percent, or anywhere in between), regardless of how profitable the business is, the players could receive two forms of payment: (a) a guaranteed, fixed percentage of BRI, and (b) a raise or paycut depending on the NBA’s profitability. So, if the NBA’s owners collectively profit, then players will receive additional money beyond their initial BRI allocation. If the owners take a loss, then the players would receive less than their share of BRI.
For such a system to work, annual increases or decreases in the NBA’s teams’ equity values would need to be accounted for (which may be difficult to accurately measure), and strict transparency of teams’ books (audited by a neutral third party) would be required to ensure that the NBA was being perfectly frank about its profits and losses.
It’s a good read, if a bit heavy on the numbers.
