頂薪麻煩

Kevin OConnor

SUPERSTARS CAN EARN MORE THAN EVER THANKS TO THE LATEST COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT. BUT NBA PLAYERS AND OWNERS ARE QUICKLY FINDING OUT THAT THE NEW ARRANGEMENT ISNT ALL THAT IT WAS BILLED TO BE.

因為最新版勞資協議，超級巨星能拿到前所未有的高薪。但NBA球員和老板很快發現，新協議和最初設想的有些不同。

Imagine someone told you one year ago that Blake Griffin would be on the Pistons， Chris Paul would be on the Rockets， Jimmy Butler would be on the Timberwolves， DeMarcus Cousins would be on the Pelicans， Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward would be on the Celtics， and Paul George and Carmelo Anthony would be on the Thunder.

想象一下一年前有人跟你說，布雷克·格里芬在活塞，克里斯·保羅在火箭，吉米·巴特勒在森林狼，德馬庫斯·考辛斯在鵜鶘，凱里·歐文和戈登·海沃德在凱爾特人，保羅·喬治和卡梅洛·安東尼在雷霆。

Have so many All-NBA-caliber players ever changed teams in a single calendar year？ The transaction log has been on fire since Kevin Durant joined the Warriors in the summer of 2016. But its not just the formation of a superteam in Golden State thats shaken up the league. A new collective bargaining agreement and the cap boom two summers ago have created an abnormally active atmosphere. Some NBA executives dont think the changes are going away， and that they could have major repercussions moving forward.

NBA最佳陣容級別的球員在過去一年里發生這么多變動？自從凱文·杜蘭特2016年夏天加入勇士，聯盟的變化就沒有停止過。但改變聯盟格局的，并非只是金州勇士。兩年前，全新的勞資協議及薪金空間造就了反常的活躍氛圍。一些NBA高管不認為改變已經停止，而這些改變會給未來造成大影響。

There were rumblings in 2014 that LeBron James would push for the removal of the max contract， a position that stars like Durant and Kobe Bryant supported. Its true that the leagues superstars dont make as much as they probably should， but such a drastic shift would have opened the door for a single player to earn more money than every other player on his team combined， like when Michael Jordan made$33.1 million in the 1997-98 season. The NBA instituted the max contract the year after Jordans big payday， and it has remained since.

2014年時有傳言稱，勒布朗·詹姆斯會推動非常頂薪合同，這個態度得到了杜蘭特和科比這些明星的支持。聯盟超級巨星沒有得到理應得到的回報，這是事實，但上述極端的改動會導致出現一名球員的薪金比全隊剩余球員薪金總和還要多的情況，比如1997-98賽季拿到3310萬美元的邁克爾·喬丹。喬丹拿到大合同的一年后，NBA設立了頂薪合同，并沿用至今。

Instead of abolishing the max altogether， the players union wound up negotiating other changes， including a new set of possible max contracts. A free agent or designated rookie could now earn up to 25 percent of the cap， designated rookies or veterans could now earn up to 30 percent if they hit certain criteria， and superstar players that hit certain qualifications are eligible for the designated veteran player extension， or the "supermax，" which can be up to 35 percent of the cap but can only be given by the team that drafted the player. The latter two were similar in the previous CBA， while the supermax is a brand-new creation.

與其徹底廢除頂薪合同，球員工會選擇協商其他變化，包括一系列新的頂薪合同。自由球員或指定新秀的薪金可以占到工資帽的25%；如果達到特定標準，指定新秀和老將的資金可以占到工資帽的30%；達到特定標準的超級巨星可以選擇指定老將續約條款，也就是所謂"超級頂薪"。他們可以占據工資帽的35%，但只有選下了這名球員的球隊才能開出這種合同。……