Pat Riley and the Miami Heat have been all over the news this weekend. The Heat president held a news conference on Saturday afternoon and talked about the state of Chris Bosh, whose season was cut short for the second year in a row due to life-threatening blood clots. Riley remained noncommittal about the prospect of Bosh playing next season given the complicated and dangerous nature of his ongoing ailments.
He was also fairly forthcoming about his regret over not doing more to retain Dwyane Wade, who signed with the Bulls in free agency after a prolonged impasse during negotiations with the Heat front office. This prompted him to resurrect a controversial idea that NBA owners have floated around in the past.
Riley says he believes the NBA should have a franchise tag — someone who can be paid as much as you want. "Everybody gets 1 player."
— Manny Navarro (@Manny_Navarro) July 16, 2016
The idea is that it would make it easier for owners to retain their superstars by offering them a ton of money that wouldn’t count against the salary cap. There is considerable concern this could come up during the next round of CBA negotiations next summer, as the Kevin Durant move to the Warriors has brought issues of parity and player movement back to the forefront, and could emerge as one of the focal points of an impending lockout.
The NFL already has a franchise-style tag, but there are several reasons why the Players’ Union would be against it, namely the aforementioned restrictions on their ability to move from team to team. There is still hope, however, that the league’s booming economy – thanks to the influx of TV money – will help mitigate a lot of these sticking points and possibly avoid a work stoppage altogether.
