NBA general managers are reportedly looking at changing the league’s in-season contract buyout and waiver process.
Change could be afoot for players looking to get their contracts brought out during the season. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, a majority of the league’s GMs have grown increasingly concerned that players are negotiating buyouts from small and mid-market teams to sign with playoff contenders in bigger markets.
According to the league rules, players must be bought out or waived by Mar. 1 in order for that player to be eligible to be on a playoff roster on another team. The buyout and waiver window lasts a full week past the NBA’s trade deadline, which GMs are now raising an issue with because players are using the buyout and waiver deadline to stifle trades.
The GMs are now arguing that that isn’t fair, and, in truth, it really isn’t.
The buyout and waiver moves were originally meant to free up cap space for teams, but over the last few years, this mechanism has been abused by players looking to get out of their contracts on bad and mediocre teams and head to contenders.
This move has hurt small markets, and its time for the league to change the way buyouts and waivers are handled. This isn’t a particularly sexy topic, but it’s an important one because, if the NBA really wants to regain parity within the league, it can’t let its players dictate which teams they want to go to during the season.
That’s what free agency is for.
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So what’s the best way to fix the growing buyout and wavier problem? Simple, move the deadline of buyouts and waivers to the trade deadline, that way, trade value isn’t suppressed and teams can get back on a level playing field.