The 2025 NBA offseason has been a reality check for just how deeply the league’s collective bargaining agreement is changing the transaction cycle that was, for many years, one of the most exciting periods of the sports calendar.
Most NBA analysts frame the new CBA as an effort to enforce a hard cap and drive parity at the top of the standings. However, ESPN NBA analyst Richard Jefferson believes it has caused an unforeseen shift in the hearts of many ownership groups around the league.
Around the same time the CBA was passed in 2023, owners of many of the league’s premier franchises began to sell their teams. In the past two years, the Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, and the Los Angeles Lakers have changed hands, with smaller teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Hornets, and Portland Trail Blazers following suit.
Jefferson believes this is because the NBA lessened the value of great owners by punishing teams who assemble elite rosters, spend big, and win.
“With this CBA, (teams) are screwed. That’s why all the owners are getting out,” Jefferson said this week on his Road Trippin’ podcast.
“That’s part of the reason why the owners are selling. All the current owners are getting out. That’s part of the conversation. It’s not just owners that want to stack the deck. It’s not just Lakers and Celtics. Charlotte sold, Portland sold.
“They’re looking at it like, even if I do a good job and I field a good team, it’s going to cost me so much money to even keep a good team. Just the formula of success. And when can say parity, but the parity is all going to spill down into those [worse] teams.”
Throughout the opening week of NBA free agency, commentators were almost unanimous in their view that the harsh new rules of the CBA were harming fans’ experience with the sport. On NBA TV shortly after the opening bell of the new league year on Monday evening, insider Chris Haynes shared a note from a “high-ranking” source warning that the league needs to remember that free agency “is entertainment.” The next day on his podcast, Bill Simmons called the new CBA one of the worst things to ever happen to any sport.
Sound bad?
It certainly appeared to limit player movement this year. Many moves that did happen were clearly motivated by cap sheets and future financial troubles.
But Jefferson went beyond the fan experience of watching ESPN SportsCenter specials or Bleacher Report livestreams and explained why owners are jumping ship. The phrase “ownership is the biggest competitive advantage in the NBA” was popularized by The Athletic’s Danny Leroux last decade. Owners today may not believe that to be true.
If Jefferson is correct in his analysis of this trend, it raises the question of why new owners are investing in the NBA. The answer, based on who has bought in lately, appears to be an effort to diversify portfolios. Venture capital firms, sports investment groups, and real estate magnates are acquiring teams to extract more value from them as investments.
A more cynical interpretation of Jefferson’s comments would mean that winning is less of a priority. The old guard didn’t think that winning was incentivized under new league rules. The new guard doesn’t mind if that’s true.
NBA fans, broadcast partners, and the league office are likely hoping that Jefferson is wrong, because his take would seem to spell a worse future for the league and its on-court product.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.