Perennial All-Star Kobe Bryant expressed what many players are surely thinking right now after the NBA signed a nine-year, $24 billion deal to re-up its TV rights on Monday. And just like his fellow stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant, Bryant voiced out his displeasure with the CBA's pressure on stars to resign for less money given how much money the owners are generating for themselves:
Players are "encouraged" per new CBA to take less to win or risk being called selfish+ungrateful while nba tv deal goes UP by a BILLION. Bryant tweeted on October 7, 2014
Bryant has never been fond of taking discounts as testament to his two-year, $48 million extension with the Lakers. He wants to show the league that players should get paid for their hard work. LeBron James is also in the same mindset when he took a max deal this summer. Now with the new mega TV deal, LeBron wants the NBA to share the wealth to the players:
"The whole thing that went on with the last negotiation process was the owners was telling us that they were losing money. There's no way they can sit in front of us and tell us that right now after we continue to see teams selling for billions of dollars, being purchased for $200 million, [selling] for 550 [million], 750 [million], $2 billion," James said. "And now [Mikhail] Prokhorov is possibly selling his majority stake in the Nets for over a billion. So, that will not fly with us this time."
And much like James and Bryant, Durant believes that the players need to get compensated more. The star forward told reporters that owners cannot cry poor anymore now with billions worth of revenue to be generated in the TV deal saying:
"That's a lot of money. I don't see how the owners can say they're losing money now." Durant also said "A lot of these guys are worth more than they're making" when asked about his opinion in abolishing max deals.
Indeed, the NBA has just gotten a lot richer and the players want a share of the newly generated wealth. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant have been one of the biggest reasons why the NBA has reached this lucrative state which is why its only natural for them to tell the league that they want to get paid more now that a lot of money is on the table.
Join the Conversation