Now that the NBA draft is over, rookies are signing contracts with the team that drafted them. The NBA, like the NFL and NHL, has a salary cap.  However, one area where the NBA distinguish themselves from the other leagues is the use of rookie caps based on where you were picked in the draft.  For instance, the first pick in the draft can only sign a contract for an amount set by the Collective Barganing Agreement (CBA), which is the contract between the NBA owners and the players association.  The first pick from the 2005 draft, Andrew Bogut, received a first year salary of $3.6 million.  The second pick gets less and so on.  Rookies receive a contract for 2 guaranteed years and team options between the 3rd and 5th years.  Go to this link for more info –> http://www.insidehoops.com/salaries-rookies.shtml.  This is a great addition to the CBA. 

What makes this a great rule?  Take baseball for example.  Each year, players get drafted out of high school and college based on what the teams see in them.  A player has the right to sign a contract with that team or wait it out and enter the draft the following season.  This is a valid option.  However, there are numerous times where a player will get drafted later than expected.  Most of the time the GM that passed up on a specific player will comment that he would have been hard to sign, not because he won’t sign, but because of his agent.  I’m sure the name Scott Boras sends chills down the spines of GM’s.  Last I checked, the draft is set up so the worst team can pick up the best players.  This process defeats the purpose.  Adding a set rookie contract amount to the CBA would rid the league of this loophole allowing the last place teams to catch up to the first place team (assuming they know how to draft). 

In the end, what right does a rookie have to command a large contract never having played a game in the league.  Even worse, baseball players get drafted out of high school or college and not only demand a high salary, they are afforded the opportunity to be placed back in the draft pool if they aren’t signed by a certain deadline. 

In the NFL, players tend to command salaries for a certain percentage more than the previous years draft.  For example, this years #1 draft pick will get a small percentage increase from last years #1.  The same is true for this years #2 against last years #2 and so on.  This isn’t part of the CBA, though, and isn’t a perfect science.  Rumor has it Reggie Bush is asking for #1 money even though he was the second pick.  This process leads to numerous players each year holding out of mini camps and preseason practices / games.  In the NFL, which has a salary cap, rookies salaries have a negative affect on veteran players.  Veterans, having played and proved themselves over long periods of time, are left out in the cold to bring in the rookies if the contract causes the team to go over the salary cap.  In the end, this hurts the team in the win column, even if it helps the player in the wallet.

The MLB Players Association is said to be one of the strongest unions in the nation and would probably resist such a rookie pay structure.  I’m not sure if the same is true for the NFL.  Either way, both leagues would be smart to push for a rookie pay structure in their respective CBA’s.