Hey Ben, thanks for the comment & kind words, they are much appreciated.
Really interesting insight re: NBA which I must admit I don't know a lot about, so thanks for educating me!
However while Stokes' decision potentially mirrors the examples you mention, and for all we know he/his agent could have been aware of these NBA scenarios, it doesn't mean that the decision-makers at the ECB around central contracts have to give in to those demands - as I said in the article, both parties have to be prepared to walk away!
Great column Dan, huge fan of your writing and love hearing you on the cricket pod. Quick note on the point around Stokes taking the short term deal - there is actually more and more of this happening in the NBA. They changed the collaborative bargaining agreement about 5 years ago so that raises in team salary caps are smoothed to a max of 10% per year. That was in response to new media deal madness that stokes seems to be trying to time. But Giannis just turned down a couple hundred million in guarantees to take a 3 year extension with the idea in mind of timing additional extensions for 2026 and 2028. LeBron has been doing short term deals the entirety of his time with the lakers.
The idea would be that, in this evolving (especially financially evolving) landscape, flexibility is valuable in and of itself. If I were an agent advising one of these A List English cricketers, I’d tell them the risk of dollars lost outweighs the guaranteed dollars of a long term deal today.
Hey Ben, thanks for the comment & kind words, they are much appreciated.
Really interesting insight re: NBA which I must admit I don't know a lot about, so thanks for educating me!
However while Stokes' decision potentially mirrors the examples you mention, and for all we know he/his agent could have been aware of these NBA scenarios, it doesn't mean that the decision-makers at the ECB around central contracts have to give in to those demands - as I said in the article, both parties have to be prepared to walk away!
Great column Dan, huge fan of your writing and love hearing you on the cricket pod. Quick note on the point around Stokes taking the short term deal - there is actually more and more of this happening in the NBA. They changed the collaborative bargaining agreement about 5 years ago so that raises in team salary caps are smoothed to a max of 10% per year. That was in response to new media deal madness that stokes seems to be trying to time. But Giannis just turned down a couple hundred million in guarantees to take a 3 year extension with the idea in mind of timing additional extensions for 2026 and 2028. LeBron has been doing short term deals the entirety of his time with the lakers.
The idea would be that, in this evolving (especially financially evolving) landscape, flexibility is valuable in and of itself. If I were an agent advising one of these A List English cricketers, I’d tell them the risk of dollars lost outweighs the guaranteed dollars of a long term deal today.