DeMarcus Cousins is a new member of the back-to-back champion Golden State Warriors, and the NBA Players Association’s could’ve done a lot more to stop it. A decision made three years changed the landscape of the entire league, re-writing history as to what a super team, or even a dynasty is. Now a team that was nearly unstoppable a year ago is even more terrifying.
How the Warriors parlayed the NBA’s 2016 salary cap spike into DeMarcus Cousins AND Kevin Durant
Everything worked out perfectly for Golden State.
Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
The Warriors’ front office needs to be praised as one of the best to ever do it. They drafted three of the most overlooked draft picks in recent memory — Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson — lured one of the best free agents to ever leave a team in his prime in Kevin Durant, and created a culture that appealed to Boogie. It takes the right personalities to get two or three stars on board, and four or five was previously unthinkable.
It also took a financial anomaly, one the Warriors benefitted from on both ends.
This whole process was really unthinkable, and there’s a chance we never see a team afforded such opportunities and capitalize on them like this.
The NBPA gave players the power to ruin many franchises and build up one
The Warriors path to dominance all started when the league signed a multi-billion television deal set to unleash a ridiculous sum of money into players’ pockets. Set to take effect in 2016-17, NBA free agents were preparing to make more money than ever before as the salary cap rose.
The league proposed this new basketball related income be “smoothed,” or gradually introduced to the league over a number of years. But the Players Association rejected that notion, with NBPA executive director Michele Roberts citing the proposal would artificially deflate the salary cap and not allow for salaries to increase as much as they could without “smoothing.”
The rejection allowed the biggest cap spike in league history, affording teams without any or merely limited cap space the ability to sign talent in the infamous summer of 2016.
The Warriors went supernova while the rest of the league fell into traps
Given the gift of maximum cap space after a 73-9 season, Golden State opened their wallets to let Durant take this newfound money and join the winningest team of all time.
Yes, almost everyone else had that space, too. But the Warriors were one of few teams — and maybe the only team — to use their cap space wisely.
While Golden State made one of the most historic signings of all time, most other franchises lost battles with agents and players, who had all the leverage to sign contracts way out of their price range. Teams had more money, and players weren’t going to sign deals without snatching up as much as they could.
Man, some of these deals were bad.
Remember:
- Luol Deng signed a four-year, $72 million deal with the Lakers,
- Timofey Mozgov signed a four-year, $64 million deal with the Lakers
- Ian Mahinmi inked a four-year, $64 million contract with the Wizards
- Allen Crabbe signed for four years and $75 million
- Joakim Noah signed for four years and $72 million
- This list goes on.
Those irresponsible summer 2016 signings then allowed Golden State to sign Boogie two years later
Because the TV money was all phased in one year, the salary cap did not rise significantly after the 2016 spike. With teams’ cap sheets clogged from those enormous deals in 2016, the free agent market came to a halt in the years following. Few teams had cap space to make substantial moves because they’re paying Ian freakin Mahinmi and Joakim Noah star money. Surely those teams would’ve loved to take a chance on Cousins with the money they spent in 2016, but alas, all is easier in hindsight.
When DeMarcus Cousins went down with a torn Achilles in a contract season, we knew his value would drop. Sure, New Orleans could’ve signed him to a long-term deal, but that comes with the risk he never returns to full health. Aside from the Pelicans, no other team with room to sign Cousins for a big-money deal needed him — aside from the Lakers, who never gave him an offer.
With no max deals on the table, Cousins had to look for one-year options to give himself the platform to showcase that his injury hasn’t ruined what we know him to be. Guess which team had a starting center position open and as close to a guaranteed title as ever?
(Hint: the team that actually used their 2016 cap space properly.)
Thus, the Warriors played the salary cap spike to perfection on both ends. When the market was at its most competitive, they won the prize. When the market was completely spent, they won again and bought low on a FIFTH star.
Warriors culture is real, and the braintrust behind it all won and won again. You couldn’t write this script. But if the NBA and the NBPA learned its lesson, you’ll never be able to again.
See More:
