Over 25 years ago, the NBA decided enough was enough and flexed a key cap mechanism, introducing maximum contract lengths.
The 90s had seen teams dish out ridiculously long contracts, ones that had the potential to handicap them for the best part of a decade.
One of the more notorious examples saw Juwan Howard, the fifth overall pick in the 1994 draft, locked into a 12-year, $42 million deal with the Washington Bullets, one which gave him an option to opt out after two years.
The NBA’s current rules mean the longest contract that a player can now earn is a five-year deal with their own team, or a four-year deal if they sign with a rival.
Washington’s 12-year deal to Juwan Howard remains one of the most infamous extensions in NBA history. (Getty Images)
It is a mechanism that essentially protects teams from themselves, even if it limits the amount of financial security for the players.
Even with this measure, NBA teams still make bad signings and players have bad contracts, but at least the length of the financial damage to a team’s cap sheet is limited.
With lengthy extensions becoming more and more popular over the last few years, the AFL, too, has started to save teams from their own mishaps, and would be well served to do more in coming years.
Since the start of the 2024 season, AFL teams offering contracts longer than six years must submit written approval from their president and CEO, explaining the deal. It is like trying to convince your parents why you should buy a brand-new PS5.
Brodie Grundy found himself on the outer at Collingwood, just years after signing a deal that he thought would lock him down at the club for the remainder of his career. (AAP: Scott Barbour)
That move came after Brodie Grundy, now with Sydney, was moved twice by two different clubs, Collingwood and Melbourne, in the space of two years.
The seven-year extension Grundy signed runs through 2027. By the time it expires, he will have played for at least three different clubs over the duration of the contract.
No one was to blame for the Grundy extension in hindsight.
His management was well within its rights to ask for top dollar from the Magpies, given he was a two-time All-Australian and one of the best big men in the game at the time.
The decision was simple for Collingwood: either pay Grundy or lose him to a rival club, leaving a gaping hole at the ruck position.
West Coast’s Harley Reid has cut a frustrated figure, having experienced just one win so far in his second AFL season. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
A couple of teams in the AFL currently face the same conundrum the Magpies did at the end of 2019, namely West Coast, which is trying to retain the services of their prolific youngster, Harley Reid.
The Eagles have won a combined 10 games in four seasons, and currently have an abysmal 1-17 record so far this year.
Despite spending four years as the AFL’s cellar-dwellers, Reid is the only Eagles player who seems a sure bet to make an All-Australian team in the future, making locking him up a priority for the club.
Ever since Eagles selected Reid, a Victorian native, first overall in the 2023 draft, clubs from his home state have been sniffing around the prospect of prying him out of Western Australia.
Victorian clubs have been trying to pry Reid out of West Coast since he was drafted with the top pick in 2023. (AAP Image: Morgan Hancock)
The bidding war has allowed Reid’s management to drive up his asking price. The latest number being thrown around is a reported 11-year extension that would net Reid an estimated total of $20 million across the duration of the deal.
The AFL hasn’t seen numbers like this before, so understandably, there is apprehension around the competition, particularly due to the fact that Reid has played 38 career games and blown hot and cold in those, as you’d expect from a 20-year-old in his second season.
From an Eagles perspective, the deal is a no-brainer. You simply pay whatever you can to keep your crown jewel and worry about the rest later.
West Coast might not be winning very often, but Reid’s presence still draws significant interest, which is of tangible value to the club. The idea of what he might be is enough to keep fans entertained.
The danger of a lengthy deal is simple. If Reid decides to opt in long-term and then has injuries that stop him from reaching his potential, the Eagles have no outs.
Rival clubs may not be willing to match the 11 years West Coast is offering, but are clearly prepared to stump up well in excess of $1 million per annum if it means Reid is spending his prime years running around in their guernsey.
Like the situation with Grundy and Collingwood, no one is necessarily at fault. This just happens to be the price of doing business.
St Kilda finds itself in a similar boat when it comes to the seemingly intertwined futures of Nasiah Waganeen-Milera, who is already at the club, and Tom De Koning, whom the Saints are trying to acquire this summer.
The Saints have been big-game hunting for a few years now, and everyone in the league knows it. They failed to lure Finn Callaghan and Essendon captain Zach Merrett to come to the club in the last 12 months, but appear to have turned the head of Carlton’s De Koning.
De Koning has been reportedly offered a deal in the vicinity of $1.7 million per season to leave the Blues, a deal which has seen Waganeen-Milera’s camp raise his asking price to $1.4 million per year amid interest from both South Australian clubs.
St Kilda, which is currently flush with salary cap space, can afford to sign both players to huge deals, but will likely restrict itself moving forward by committing such a large portion of its cap to two players.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s camp has been able to drive up his asking price due to the Saints’ offer for Tom De Koning. (Getty Images: Josh Chadwick)
People in power at all these clubs have one thing in common: trying to follow through on whatever the message is to their members. The only thing that differs is what exactly that message is.
For West Coast, the message is one of hope, patience, and an idea of what could be. Pitching that to fans is doable when Reid is the centrepiece of it. Good luck doing it while he’s ripping it up back in Victoria after being traded by the Eagles.
The Saints have an entirely different mandate. This is a club that has not had any real star-power since the Nick Riewoldt era a decade ago. To those in charge at St Kilda, giving the fans a shiny new toy in De Koning makes paying him well above the usual going rate for a ruckman worth it.
People in power at each of these clubs are trying to appease their members as quickly as possible. If that means handicapping the club in the long run, a time when they may not still remain at the club in their respective positions, it is a decision they’ll make every single time.
Tom De Koning is widely expected to join St Kilda next year in a deal that could net him up to $1.7 million per season. (Getty Images: Josh Chadwick)
This isn’t a problem that is AFL-exclusive. Across all sports, if you leave clubs to their own vices, the chances are they make short-sighted decisions that usually result in adversely impacting their long-term futures.
The AFL cannot make any changes until the end of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which ends in 2027.
When it comes to the negotiation of a new deal, contract lengths should be central to these discussions, particularly with expansion on the horizon.
The current AFL administration has already shown an inclination to keeping a close eye on how the NBA does things, dabbling in play-in tournament and in-season cup ideas.
If there is one thing they can actually take from the NBA, it should be contract lengths.
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