Not if you’re Derrick Coleman.
At 26, Coleman is the 6-foot-10 power forward of the New Jersey Nets. After three years in the National Basketball Association, Coleman has led the Nets to the status of “very promising”; he has won nothing but a rookie-of-the-year trophy. For this modest achievement, Coleman wants his due. Last week the team offered him a $69 million, eight-year contract. And he said no. Call me back, he added, when you’re ready to talk nine figures.
If he’s patient–and his knee doesn’t blow out this year–Coleman will probably get just about what he’s asked for. A new generation of NBA stars is commanding megabuck deals that make baseball’s free-spending owners look frugal. Larry Johnson, the best young power forward in the game, just re-upped with the Charlotte Hornets for $84 million over 12 years. And the top three picks in this year’s NBA draft–Chris Webber, Shawn Bradley and Anfernee Hardaway–signed deals for $74.4 million, $44.2 million and $65 million respectively before playing a single minute in the pros.
Pretty incredible, even to an old-timer like Charles Barkley who can recall the days when players “struggled” to land million-dollar salaries. “That was like the benchmark,” he told NEWSWEEK. “Then it went to $3 million. We were always driven by a desire to get to the next level. These guys are the next level.” Yet what seems like a natural evolutionary course to Barkley appears a far less healthy development to the average fan. Will these big numbers hurt the game, alienate fans or encourage a loafing style of play9 TO put it another way, has pro basketball decided to follow a course that has already proved disastrous elsewhere?
Basketball spokesmen say no. “The NBA is a big, booming business, and everyone is getting [his] share,” says New York Knicks coach Pat Riley. With TV contracts locked in at record levels for another five years, with basketball beginning to rival soccer in international popularity, with every shoe and soft-drink company marketing the NBA’s young, old and now even retired stars, the league’s economic prospects have never appeared better. “I can’t speak for the decisions of every owner,” says NBA executive Rick Welts, “but we believe we have a sound economic system for the future of our game.”
Baseball salaries began to escalate 15 years ago when players won the right to negotiate directly with teams–and owners embarked on a course of suicidal, cutthroat competition. The result was a sport where loyalties were no longer enduring, but resentments were. Baseball’s biggest stars like Reggie Jackson and Nolan Ryan go into the Hall of Fame having to choose between four team uniforms for their immortal stance. Minnesota Twins star Dave Winfield’s 3,000th hit last season might have been more stirring if he hadn’t got his 2,800th with the Blue Jays, his 2,600th with the Angels and his first with the Padres.
Basketball may avert these problems by sticking to a contractual provision known as the salary cap. Each team has a pool of money it can divide among its players; the amount is tied to league revenues. Also, teams have the right to match offers from others, “The NBA wants to encourage the idea of a franchise player who stays in one place,” says agent Leonard Armato, who represents the Orlando Magic’s franchise player, Shaquille O’Neal. What is a rarity in baseball remains commonplace in basketball; superstars like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird play entire careers with a single team.
So, too, in all likelihood, will the Hornets’ Johnson. He’s signed with the Hornets until he’s 36, more often than not a retirement age in the NBA. “Obviously it’s an enormous number,” says Charlotte president Spencer Stolpen of Johnson’s $84 million price tag. “We did a lot of disaster budgeting and decided we could afford to lock Larry in and still build a quality team.” There’s risk for Johnson, too. If salaries keep skyrocketing, he could ultimately find himself one of the lower-paid superstars.
The deals for the untested rookies are less easily defensible. NBA history is full of highly touted busts. In 1972, Portland made LaRue Martin the first pick in the draft of college players, and he rewarded the Trail Blazers by averaging 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in a sorry four-year career. More recently, the Cleveland Cavaliers signed Duke star Danny Ferry to an estimated $34 million, 10-year deal. As a player, Ferry has sunk.
The new salaries may leave some men jealous: the second-tier NBA players who aren’t getting them. With the salary cap, there’s only so much money to go around. But don’t shed too many tears. The guaranteed annual minimum salary is $150,000.
