The NBA proves that winning means nothing in American sports

The trade deadline came and went, showing yet again that what's bad for the players is bad for the fans

Former Philadelphia 76er Jared McCain (NBA)

Tyrese Maxey is a superstar. Joel Embiid has figured out how to maintain elite production without possessing knee ligaments. Rookie guard V.J. Edgecombe has been a revelation. They’re starring for a team bound for the playoffs. And yet, the Philadelphia 76ers got worse on purpose at this week’s NBA’s trade deadline. That’s because winning doesn’t matter in American sports.

At first, the trade didn’t make sense. Why would the Sixers get rid of Jared McCain? Selected in the first round last year, McCain was the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year until injuries derailed his season, and the team’s depth at guard this year allowed him to ease back into form.

And why would the Sixers send McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder? With the best record in the league, the defending champions hardly need the help (or another potential all-star).

And why would the Sixers accept four draft picks—a late first-rounder and three seconds—that are less useful than four Mega Millions tickets? They are heading towards the playoffs this season.

The deal seemed as pointless as many others throughout the league. The Charlotte Hornets, going nowhere fast, acquired six players, and the Boston Celtics, who are actually good, turned over a quarter of its roster. I also learned that Chris Paul is still playing professional basketball. He was traded to the Toronto Raptors for an alphabet soup of players and picks.

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NBC Sports Philadelphia on Instagram: "Jared McCain was speechl…

Poking around the internet, I found that most of these trades were, in and of themselves, un-grade-able, because basketball competitiveness was besides the point. Far more important were the terms ‘second apron’ and ‘tax.’ I couldn’t decide if the Trade Analysis Industrial Complex felt like a segment on QVC or “Fox & Friends.” In any case, the state of play was clear: we experienced the full effects of the league’s 2023 collective bargaining agreement.

To protect against ultra-wealthy team owners, the league and players union agreed, at the behest of merely mega-wealthy owners, to an economic structure that imposes harsh penalties on teams that exceed the salary cap. Any team exceeding the salary cap is taxed on that spending, which is redistributed to non-tax-paying teams. The first apron imposes roster restrictions, along with the tax. The second apron goes even farther.¹

NBA teams, then, are very much incentivized to not get better and instead to avoid economic penalties. As Michael Pina writes for The Ringer, “Whether getting under an apron or ducking the tax, teams are now able to spin decisions that make their present-day roster worse at basketball by pointing at the flexibility it may afford sometime down the line.”

Put another way, and put more explicitly, the business of basketball is now centered around making your “present-day roster worse at basketball.” As Pina also writes, “That stinks.”

Sixers nation was miffed at the McCain trade, particularly because the team later salary-dumped Eric Gordon in a separate trade. That alone would have resulted in the cap flexibility that the team so desperately crave. The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, the preeminent Sixers podcast—those poor hosts—represented the outrage.

“Ducking the tax is inexcusable,” co-host Mike Levin said. “There isn’t a basketball reason for them to do it. There isn’t a team-building reason for them to do it. There’s absolutely nothing [to it] aside from getting a couple more million when you are some of the richest people alive.” He is referring to Sixers co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer, two private equity humanoids.

This is setting aside the human impact of trades. “We were all on the bus to the airport, and I just got a call,” McCain said to the Thunder media contingent. “I went to Tyrese [Maxey] first, and it was pretty emotional.” Imagine you’re entry-level at JPMorgan Chase in New York City and your boss calls to tell you that you’ve been traded to a credit union in Oklahoma City. Only in sports!

The NBA can get away with having a salary cap, and it can get away with having such severe penalties for exceeding it, because it is a monopolistic closed shop, as are all the major leagues in the U.S. To the teams, there is quite literally no consequence for losing. Spend less on your team and you get subsidies, better draft picks, and the almighty cap flexibility. In the background, team valuations explode.

The players are the losers in this equation, having missed out on potential income, which also means the fans are losers. We pay more every year for a less competitive product. Sixers fans, specifically, are paying for Year 13 of The Process. At least we know that that’s not because they're cursed. It’s because the league ingrained The Process into its DNA.

1. Leagues sell salary caps as a means to achieve competitive balance. MLB is going on about this now, and yet the NBA had to adopt a complex incentive system to try to achieve parity. The owners, nearly all Republican-donating, conservative white men, also love socialism within their businesses. These ironies will have to be addressed another day.