Navigating the Complexity of the Euroleague Transfer Market

January 18, 2024, 1:49 p.m.

The executive director of the Euroleague Coaches Association, Goran Sasic, spoke in an interview with Meridian, talking about how “we will work with the Euroleague and the ELPA (Euroleague Players Association) to introduce a transfer market principle that could be applied from next seasonso that clubs can exchange players.”

Viewing comments on social networks I think his words have been misinterpreted and he was referring more to energizing and changing the Euroleague market than to the literality of an NBA-style transfer market. Because there, in that case, I’m sorry to puncture the balloon: I don’t see it as viable or feasible.

Why can’t the Euroleague be the NBA in the market?

You have to start with the most basic, the business model. The NBA starts from something very different from what there is in Europe: the teams are franchises, not clubs, of a brand called NBA. The mentality is that of an investment/speculative business, which lives on 99% of private money (only public aid in the construction of pavilions is saved).

In the NBA there is a single contract model, not like in Europe, where, for example in the Euroleague, one is signed with the club, with its particularities and peculiarities (remember that the players also compete in national competitions), and a standard one with the ELPA. And let us remember that the players also play in the national leagues… and the teams also build the teams according to the quotas of their domestic competitions… which clash with the free market of the Euroleague.

The NBA is transparent when it comes to contracts but in Europe they are rarely public. To establish the possibility of transfers between teams it would be necessary to know the value of the players’ contracts. All of them, of course, in accordance with the respective tax regulations of the country of the player’s club. And for all this, a salary limit would have to be established, salary scales… and a Draft, which is the pinnacle for the system to work and which compensates so that, after a series of seasons, all teams can be contenders.

But if you establish a Draftimagine the Real Madrid, for example, managing to get Hugo González outwhich stands out in the Adidas Next Generation, so that he can then be drafted… by Anadolu Efes! Investment in quarry would be stopped because there would be no competitive advantage. Ok, let’s say that González is not draftable because he has already played with the whites’ first team. So… which players are you going to choose? If the good ones, from the prolific quarries, have already debuted with their first teams… But there’s more, if you bring Ricky Rubio or Cory Higgins out of retirement… whose rights are they?

And of course, if a player, according to the autonomy of his will, signs for Barça in the summer, second, It cannot be transferred in accordance with current legislation without giving your consent.. Imagine that they want to send you to ALBA Berlin or ASVEL. This only usually happens when players do not have a leading role in their teams and look for an escape in the form of minutes. How do you manage to transfer him to a team for reasons of salary space or tanking? And in the NBA there are many items aside from players to offer, such as draft rounds. And here?

But there is more: if the places are not fixed… only those of the License A teams… What if a player in a transfer ends up on a team with a multi-year contract without a guaranteed license? Where would the luxury tax impact if it were established?

And then you have to go to the mentality. In the NBA it is clear: win or rebuild. Except for projects like ALBA, where the results are in the ‘background’, in Europe the medium-long term is difficult to sell or explain. Because of that immediacy of results we have already seen so many changes in coaches. In the United States, how many franchises have we seen crossing the desert with negative records season after season?

The rules of the market game should be different. Not the ones there are. And redefining it is not easy at all. The system is not replicable. But I do believe that there are small steps that can be taken.

What would you change?

The market this year, as we have said, has been full, given the lack of available cash, of signings in the form of changing teams taking advantage of the transfer window: Pangos to Valencia from Milan; Jaleen Smith from Virtus de Bologna to Partizan; Napier from Belgrade’s other team, Red Star, to Milan; Zizic from Anadolu Efes heading to the Italian Basket City or lately Hermansson back from Valencia to ALBA Berlin.

But here it is not done in the form of a transfer: it is done by terminating a contract with the club of origin and signing a new one with the destination club. And there is no compensation.

What I do see excessive es that a player, with whom the club of origin quickly sees that he does not fit or is not counted on, has to wait to play until the 18th matchday with his new team. This is what, for example, happened to Kevin Pangos in Milan. Since matchday 5 in the Italian team he has not played again until matchday 20. I believe that this situation must be made more flexible and normalized.

The ACB regulations seem more accurate to me as stated in article 15.10 of its internal regulations:

‘In accordance with the provisions of article 18 of the ACB-ABP Collective Agreement, once the official ACB competitions have started, The player will only be able to change clubs as long as the withdrawal occurs before February 28..

Furthermore, I think that It is a mistake to set the market closing so early, on February 7. Especially before the NBA trade deadline (February 8). If it is already difficult for a player to come from the United States, even more so.

In addition would set some exceptions for serious injury that can condition the end of the season and the subsequent playoffs-playin-Final Four. To do this, the Euroleague medical department would have to assess the veracity of the injury and the time out. This is what happens in the FEB competitions that are included in article 37 of the General and Competition Regulations:

‘Exceptionally and provided that the Club has not exceeded the maximum number of registrations, The registration of licenses may be authorized once the registration period has concluded, when a player from the squad leaves due to injury and/or pregnancy as long as he/she is within the first trimester and/or illness/injury for a longer period of time. to four months of inactivity and/or recovery, as long as the registration of the new player does not require the granting of an international transfer.’

Law and economics, by training; basketball and communication, out of devotion. Exclusives and ins and outs of basketball. When the market is in flux, it’s easy to catch him with the ‘ice cream’ cart.

2024-01-18 12:49:20
#Euroleague #NBA #market #Relief