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SALT LAKE CITY — Wednesday, the NBA announced that an agreement had been made between the league’s owners and the players association on a collective bargaining agreement that will prevent a lockout scenario like the one last seen in 2011. The play stoppage resulted in an abbreviated 66-game season, which was the last time the Utah Jazz made the playoffs.
The new deal will likely see similar financial splits between the players and owners as happened in the agreement made in 2011, with new television money drastically inflating the income for both sides.
While details of the contract are still scarce, and the NBA Players Association has yet to officially ratify the deal, it appears to be a mere formality at this point in the negotiation process.
Of the few details that have emerged, one may play an enormous role in keeping Jazz small forward Gordon Hayward in Utah long-term.
Hayward, the Jazz's highest-paid player at over $16 million per season, will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2017, and will undoubtedly sign a maximum value contract with his next team. Likewise, the Jazz will have a max offer sheet ready for Hayward the minute free agency opens this coming summer.
Whereas the Jazz were going to have to compete with 29 teams across the NBA for Hayward's services, with little more than a promising young lineup to entice Hayward to stick around long-term, one wrinkle in the new CBA may have tilted the odds dramatically in the Jazz's favor when it comes to retaining the team’s most high-profile player.
As ESPN’s Marc Stein reports, each NBA team may have the opportunity to extend a contract offer to a single veteran on their roster to keep them around beyond the league’s current five-year maximum contract length.
Currently, the league allows teams to re-sign their players for up to five years, while a player signing with a new team can sign just a four-year deal. The extra year granted to the player’s existing team gives them the ability to offer further financial stability to retain their own players.
If the NBA were to retain the four-year contract limit for a player singing with a new team, while allowing his current team to offer an additional two years, the contract could be worth in excess of 50 percent more than any other team could offer, as soon as this coming summer. While Hayward has restated his top goal in free agency is to sign with a team with a chance at competing for a championship, having an additional $60-70 million guaranteed might be too hard to pass up on a team that appears poised to make a playoff run.
Hayward has been the key to the Jazz's rebuilding effort over the past several seasons, and this season has emerged as one of the league’s premier scorers. Hayward’s career-high 23.3 points per game place him in the top 15 among scorers in the NBA, where he’s also averaging a career-high 6.4 rebounds per game.
Adding additional years to Hayward’s contract may not necessarily seal the deal for the Jazz in retaining Hayward’s services, as, at just 26 years old, the forward may be leery of locking himself into a contract that would have him negotiating his next deal at 32 years, an age most players are perceived to be leaving their NBA prime. Exiting a deal at age 30 could allow Hayward to capitalize on one last mega-contract to best maximize his career earning potential.
The Jazz must feel comfortable with the roster they’ve put together, showing enough promise to make a compelling offer to Hayward to stick around this summer. With the NBA’s new CBA potentially allowing the Jazz to offer additional years that could boost Hayward’s contract by more than 50 percent, Jazz fans should sleep easier knowing their team’s negotiating advantage. Ben Anderson is the co-host of "Gunther and Ben in the Afternoon" with Kyle Gunther on 1320 KFAN from 3-7 p.m., Monday through Friday. Read Ben's Utah Jazz blog at 1320kfan.com, follow him on Twitter @BenKFAN.
