Los Angeles Lakers: Danny Green’s Rudy Gobert statement now more important

The effects of the coronavirus will go well past the health stage to the NBA financial spreadsheets for years to come.

Sometimes Lake Show Life follows along with NBA reports and pass them along to NBA fans around the world. Then sometimes, we see a certain comment that sounds real nice and then provide “insight” to our regular fans to what’s really going on. This is not saying that the reports are wrong or the insiders are lying. We just like to say what they are not.

Take ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne talking about the chances of the NBA starting up again after the pandemic is controlled.

Ms. Shelburne is right about one thing. Anyone who tries to tell you about what will happen over the next two to three months is lying through their teeth. But’s talk about the motivation of both sides of getting back on the court. It’s the same motivation that gets FanSided writers or any other sportswriter in front of a keyboard; money.

Let’s talk about the players. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski laid it out late last week. The players will get a check on April 1st, 2020. After that? Well, that’s still in the air.

It seems that the canceled games and loss of revenue can give the NBA the option to withhold players’ salaries based on games not played. How?  Well it seems they can based on the force majeure provision in the collective bargaining agreement.

"Force majeure allows for a withholding of 1/92.6 of a player’s seasonal salary per canceled game based upon catastrophic circumstances. The provision encompasses several scenarios including war, natural disasters and epidemics/pandemics. The NBA plans to inform teams and players ahead of the April 15 payment date about the league’s intentions, the memo said. Most NBA players will have received around 90% of their seasonal salary after the April 1 payments, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks."

COVID-19 does apply here. Players that play the whole season are paid in 24 checks annually, and the first 12 checks include the 10 percent escrow tax. Oh by the way, they have bills too. Forget talking about the stars of the Lakers like LeBron James, Anthony Davis or Danny Green. They make $15 million and up.

Quinn Cook, Jared Dudley, Rajon Rondo and others that make around the veteran’s minimum may see a difference in their paycheck. We are not even discussing the playoff shares yet. This is the regular season folks.

Now before readers start talking about billionaires and the NBA offices not caring about the NBA, Lake Show Life is saying you are wrong. Oh they care.

This pandemic could potentially cost the NBA $1 billion as of this point according to the Washington Post. No one cares yet right?

The losses will bring a potential record salary cap drop. The Los Angeles Lakers are cap-strapped with Anthony Davis’s max deal coming. Good luck filling out the roster if the salary cap bungee jumps straight off planet Earth. Let’s just say Rob Pelinka is working right now.