Tim Duncan also may or may not be about to get a pay rise

July 22nd, 2012

This post is essentially an addendum to this previous post. That post talked about an NBA contract that had accidentally been created and ratified in violation of a Collective Bargaining Agreement. Specifically, it talked about Zach Randolph and the Memphis Grizzlies.

It appears now, however, that that is not the only instance of the rule in question being violated. The rule in question – whereby the salary in a player option year cannot be for less than that of the year immediately preceding it, explained at much greater length in the previous post – also appears to be broken in the case of Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

Per official league salary figures, Duncan’s new contract, signed this month, calls for salaries of $9,638,554 in 2012/13, $10,361,446 in 2013/14, and an even $10 million in 2014/15. The final year is a player option year, NOT a year immediately following an early termination option (again see previous post), and thus the salary in the 2014/15 season should not be any lower than the $10,361,446 of the season before it. It appears, however, that it is.

It was previously said that it is very rare to see the league make a mistake on a matter such as this, and it still is. But to make the same one twice is even more so.