Larry Coon with an early discussion of the new labor agree here:
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/...abor-agreement
I don't think there's any way you can argue the Mavericks didn't come out as losers in this new deal, but at least there's this nugget:
Quote:
The agreement is also said to include a relaxation of many of the system issues from the league's Nov. 10 proposal -- issues that led to the union's disclaimer and subsequent lawsuit. The league sought to control spending and improve competitive balance through a highly punitive luxury tax and further spending restrictions to be imposed on taxpaying teams, which the union considered unacceptable. Friday's compromise included the elimination of the smaller mid-level exception for taxpayers, the restoration of sign-and-trade and extend-and-trade transactions, and the removal of the harsher tax penalties for teams that are taxpayers four times in a five-year span.
"It's not the system we sought out to get in terms of a harder cap," Silver said, "but the luxury tax is harsher than it was in the past deal, and we hope it's effective."
With the elimination of the harsher penalties for taxpaying teams, the union hopes it is able to preserve the freedom of movement that is the lifeblood of free agency. It is over this issue that the players rejected the owners' proposal even after agreeing to a 50-50 revenue split, and the players would not have dissolved their union and filed a federal lawsuit just to accept a proposal that closely resembled the deal that was already on the table.
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So the luxury tax is still getting harsher, but at least it doesn't sound like it will be as bad as some were speculating earlier. I'm still interested to see exactly how this all shakes out.