Before this historic NBA free-agent summer officially began, I spoke with agent David Falk about what to expect once the torrent of pent-up anticipation was released at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. Falk knows about important free-agent classes, having represented Michael Jordan, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and others in 1996, when Shaquille ONeal, Reggie Miller and other stars and future Hall of Famers hit the market simultaneously.
His words rang eerily prescient Friday as we passed the 36-hour mark since the spending began.
Atlanta ownership didnt want to face the ire and consequences of not making a big offer to Joe Johnson. (Getty Images) “Before collective bargaining, when the owners are going to ask for substantial concessions, the owners are going to go on a wild spending spree this summer,” Falk said. “Arguably beyond LeBron and D-Wade, you have a lot of players who will be maxed out that in a tough economic environment you question why there isnt more restraint.”
Sure enough, here is the tally thus far: If all the anticipated agreements become official, owners who will be crying poverty at this time next year will have burned through $449 million in less than 36 hours. One more “modest” contract agreement, and well be at the half-billion-dollar mark before a single Roman candle has ushered in the Fourth of July weekend.
“The market proves that insanity is alive and well,” one flummoxed team executive said.
And its only go havent even finished being wowed in an elaborate series of presentations from Los Angeles to Houston to Cleveland to Chicago to New York. Dirk Nowitzki was just getting around to meeting with the Mavericks on Friday. Linas Kleiza and Josh Childress, who fled the NBAs uncertain financial future in recent summers for tax-free European living, are licking their chops. Kleiza, sources say, will get at least $30 million to return to the States; Childress will command close to $40 million. Multiple teams desperate for a point guard will lavish $20 million-$30 million on the likes of Steve Blake, Luke Ridnour and Jordan Farmar.
Nothing is officia Joe Johnson (six years, $120 million with the Hawks), Rudy Gay (five years, $82 million with the Grizzlies), Drew Gooden and John Salmons (five years each and a combined $71 million with the Bucks), plus Darko Milicic and Nikola Pekovic (four years each and  mean that four of the financially weakest teams in the league spent $306 million on the first day of free agency.
Thats almost as much as commissioner David Stern cl a claim that has been disputed by the National Basketball Players Association, which is dutifully taking notes on the bacchanalia.
Friends, you are watching the final spasms of unrestrained revelry, the last glass-clanking toasts and tie-loosening dance-floor gyrations before the music stops with a lockout on July 30, 2011.
“Its the system,” one general manager said Friday. “Irresponsible spending is because of the pressure thats being put on us to win by the owners and the fan base. Our job is to put together a team that wins. Were not getting accolades for being smart businessmen and for being fiscally responsible.”
Believe it or not, there are sound reasons for some of this spending. A serious debate can be had as to whether Johnson is worth the league maximum for six years. But with a flood of demand on the market in the form of teams flush with cap space, Atlanta felt it had to put as much distance as possible between itself and other suitors that could only offer five years.
The Grizzles knew that Gay, a restricted free agent, wouldve received at least one front-loaded offer sheet dooming their chances of keeping him. Owner to satisfy a massive up-front payment that, say, the Knicks would have built into their offer. So GM Chris Wallace overpaid, which was better than losing Gay and getting shut out of the market for possible replacements.
Salmons, a big reason the Bucks made the playoffs last season, probably has the most reasonable deal that has been struck so far. In Paul Pierces case, sometimes a team and Pierce did the Celtics a favor by opting out of the final year of his previous contract, which wouldve paid him $21.5 million next season.
“What happens to Chris Wallace and Michael Heisley if he just lets Rudy Gay go?” the rival GM said. “Nobody comes to the games. Everybody writes that hes cheap, that hes the new Donald Sterling, that he doesnt want to win, and that Chris Wallace is a moron. What would happen in Atlanta? Well, they built a good team and Rick Sund came in there and couldnt keep Joe Johnson, and the owners dont care and theyre going to sell the team. … When youre in that seat, you understand the pressure youre under and the battle youre constantly playing between winning and fiscal responsibility. Its an incredible struggle.”
But whatever spin you put on the spending, the numbers will be right there in black and white on spreadsheets that union lawyers will be armed with at the negotiating table. As sources told CBSSports.com on Friday, the players collective bargaining proposal was in the hands of the league and the owners negotiating committee in time for this holiday weekend. Lets just say the document will make for some sobering reading around some billionaire barbecues excess, living above their means, and running their businesses into the ground.
“Theres no way youre going to replace Rudy Gay,” another rival executive said. “But at the same time, no way, no how in a million years is he worth a max contract.”
This is the rock and hard place between which NBA owners find themselves in the final days and months of the Roaring 2000s in basketball. On one hand, Stern publicly frets about $400 million in losses at a time when owners are crisscrossing the country in Gulfstream jets and arriving at elaborate free-agent pitch sessions in fleets of luxury SUVs. (By the way, the players are driven around in them too.) Will all of this be thrown in the owners faces at the bargaining table when it comes time to fix the way money is spent in the NBA?
“Of course it will,” Falk said.
Just keep your calculators handy. By the time we get the tally is likely to be at $1 billion and counting. Its the wild and crazy free-agent summer of 2010, and the bubble is about to burst.
