The NBA All-Star break is typically regarded as the midway point of the often grueling 82-game regular season schedule — a time when players can relax after 50 games and enjoy the week off.
Many players choose to go on vacation, or spend some quality time with their families.
But for the athletes who participated in this year’s 64th annual All-Star game — a weekend that included more than just the 24 players who displayed high-flying offense and nonexistent defense in the actual game — the week was business as usual.
Instead of practice and games, the All-Stars attended promotional events, media sessions and watched other NBA players participate in minor yet enjoyable contests such as the Rising Stars Challenge and the Skills Challenge.
All of these events are televised, with endorsement space being sold to the highest bidder.
It’s not just the Skills Challenge – it’s the Taco Bell Skills Challenge.
Because at the end of the day, the NBA is a business, first and foremost.
Franchise owners declared back in 2011 when the current collective bargaining agreement was signed that more than half of the teams were losing money.
But both the NBA Player’s Association and the league itself backed down from revealing actual revenue and operating costs, and that statement was just taken with a grain of salt.
That’s no longer the case.
The new collective bargaining agreement allots more revenue towards the owners and franchises – roughly seven percent more than pre-2011 NBA basketball.
Owners are receiving more money, and more fans are attending games in post-recession America.
But the NBA still needs to make money from people who can’t attend games.
The NBA signed a massive broadcasting deal with Turner Sports and ESPN, a deal that takes effect in 2016 and will reportedly increase the NBA’s salary cap from $63.1 million this season to a projected $90 million or more in just 24 months from now.
That’s the biggest jump the cap has ever seen.
With no games during the break, the NBA Player’s Association, or NBPA, had a chance to attend to business pertaining to the salary cap and the state of its representation.
The NBPA, led by executive director Michele Roberts and president/Los Angeles Clipper Chris Paul, had an opening for one of its six vice-president spots and unanimously elected the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James to the position.
The duo of Paul and James gives the NBPA increased bargaining power, which they sorely missed in the 2011 negotiations, and is seen as a sign of resilience for a union that fired previous executive director Billy Hunter two years ago amid allegations of questionable business practices.
James immediately stepped into the role for the NBPA’s meeting with the league, which sought to discuss the impending cap increase.
The league reportedly sought to institute a measure that would gradually increase the cap to the correct figure, rather than a huge jump all at once.
However, the NBPA shot this measure down, voicing concerns over veteran players missing out on big money that players, including James and Paul, feel they deserve.
For now, the season continues without a clear plan of what will happen in 2016 with the salary cap.
The game went off without a hitch, although the ratings were dwarfed by Saturday Night Live’s 40th anniversary special that aired on NBC.
The meetings defined what the NBA is all about: the best basketball players in the world making sure that they get their slice of the pie.
The league may be headed for another lockout in the coming seasons, but for those who don’t want to know about the meetings and the business aspect of basketball, the league makes sure there’s enough televised dunking and shooting to drown out the noise of the NBA and its players moving farther apart.
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
East Team’s LeBron James, of the Cleveland Cavaliers, goes up for a basket during the second half of NBA All-Star basketball game on Sunday in New York.
