Alklha
Registered User
- Sep 7, 2011
- 16,875
- 2,751
They didn't retroactively punish them, they simply brought in a term limit and a limit on how much salary could vary in contracts. Teams with those contracts can still simply dump a player on LTIR when the time comes. Also, the last lockout was about reducing the players share of revenue from 57% to 50%.So we had a lockout over ridiculous back diving contracts and the League retroactively punished teams that signed players to them
The insane signing bonuses are more of a grey area, certainly less of a circumvention in absolute terms however is it reasonable to argue that these 15 million dollar signing bonuses go against the spirit of the cap since not a lot of teams can afford to play that game.
Will something be done about signing bonuses in the next CBA? Almost certainly. It won't be retroactive punishment, in theory that already exists because the contracts are effectively buyout proof. What we'll probably see is that all new contracts will have a percentage limit on what can be paid in bonus money or that a "signing bonus" can only be paid in the first year. The existing deals will be grandfathered in.