Report: Sixers being researched by NBPA for possible CBA violation

Most of the news and rumors surrounding the Sixers to come out in the past month have had to do with the draft, but that has changed this week. A couple of days ago news came out that Dario Saric would be staying overseas and would not be coming to play for the Sixers next season. Yesterday Shams Charania of RealGM reported that the Sixers were being researched by the Players Association for a possible violation of the CBA:

"The NBPA told agents in a meeting on Monday that it will actively look into the 76ers’ handling of the CBA, such as salary distributions, the cap floor and contract format loopholes. For the NBPA, Philadelphia’s approach over the past several seasons may not be a technical violation of collective bargaining as much as it is one of the spirit of negotiating under the CBA.An NBPA spokesperson confirmed Tuesday the union’s plan to pursue the 76ers’ issue if there is a violation found."

There is a lot to unwrap here and most of it is purely speculation at this point. First, no matter the outcome it is never a good thing to be researched by the NBPA and have it become public. While this kind of thing may be a normal duty of the NBPA, the fact that it was leaked to the public is an abnormal happening. The report just makes an organization and front office look bad and could rub agents and players the wrong way.

Now when I heard and read about this report, a couple of transactions from the past came to mind. The first was the famous long-term, partially-guaranteed contracts that General Manager Sam Hinkie has given out, mostly to second-round picks, in his first two years in Philadelphia. These contracts would most likely fall under the “contract format loopholes” of the Charania report.

Jerami Grant signed this kind of contract last season, which was two-years of guaranteed money followed by three non-guaranteed years. While it is good for Grant, as a second-round prospect, to secure a two-year contract, it benefits the Sixers more if Grant pans out as a good NBA player because they have him under control at a very low price for five years. K.J. McDaniels turned down this deal and gambled on himself by opting for a one-year, non-guaranteed contract to give him more control.

Salary distributions and the cap floor is most likely referring to the T-RobGate. In late February the Sixers claimed Thomas Robinson off waivers, blocking him from going to the Brooklyn Nets where he already had agreed to sign (and sending Nets fans into an irrational tirade). By claiming T-Rob the Sixers, who were previously operating under the salary cap floor, were able to bring their cap over the floor. If the Sixers did not reach the floor by the end of the season, then they would have to equally distribute the difference between the floor and the team’s cap to the entire roster. So this move upset some folks around the league, Nets fans included, because it was perceived that the Sixers blocked T-Rob from going somewhere he wanted to play just to get over the floor.

The most important parts of the report are the final two sentences. The second to last sentence is basically saying that under the bylaws of the CBA the Sixers may not have anything illegal, but rather the way they are operating in certain situations is unethical and frowned upon. For example, the contract that Jerami Grant signed is not disallowed under the CBA, but it may not be the kind of contract that agents want their respective players to have to sign. The same goes with the T-Rob situation, in that what the Sixers did was not illicit, but it did not look to some on the outside.

The final sentence is important because it basically sums up what I just said in the previous paragraph. As of now, the NBPA has not found any violations in how the Sixers have operated, but the union will pursue the investigation if an actual violation is found. If a violation is actually found, then it could mean a fine or a loss of a draft pick, but I doubt that this will get to that point. This kind of thing is never a good thing, especially when it is made public, but I would be surprised if anything comes of it.

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