Kobe Bryant rips NBA, owners over new TV deal

It appears as if LeBron James and Chris Paul aren’t the only NBA players who’ve taken offense to the NBA’s new television deal which will pay the league upwards of $25 billion dollars over the next nine-years.

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Along with James and Paul, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant decided to vent his frustrations with the new deal on Twitter, suggesting the NBA and their owners aren’t preaching what they tell their own players.

As you may recall, NBA owners ‘convinced’ players to be a bit more ‘frugal’ during the last collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in effort to get a deal done. Now it seems as if the league and owners are cashing in.

Players are "encouraged" per new CBA to take less to win or risk being called selfish+ungrateful while nbatv deal goes UP by a BILLION #biz
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) October 7, 2014

Keep in mind, Kobe Bryant isn’t ripping the new television deal itself, rather the league and owners not practicing what they preach. Of course, Kobe Bryant may not be one to talk considering how much money he makes but his point is understood.

During negotiations for the last CBA, owners cried foul and suggested they were losing too much money to pay players the salaries they were commanding. That obviously has proven to be a bit of an exaggeration considering the profits NBA franchises rake in, a figure that will only grow after the new television deal.

There is fear the new deal could be the tipping of the pendulum in regards to a potential lockout once the current CBA expires. You’d like to think both sides would be able to avoid such, though that’s going to take some serious give and take on both parts.

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