NBA Lockout for Dummies: Explaining the Situation from Both Sides | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Contracts in the NBA have a few major flaws in them.  The biggest flaw is that every contract in the NBA is guarantied.  When players sign contracts, they will receive that money, whether they earn it, get injured, never play, or are cut.  This can kill teams for years, giving out max contracts worth 5-6 years and over 100 million dollars, and the players getting injured or just not panning out.  Take for example the 76ers and Elton Brand.  Elton Brand was an NBA all star, and tore his ACL, the year before his contract was up.  The Sixers took a chance on him, and as last year he played well, he killed the Sixers for the two previous years.  Also, Michael Redd, earns over 20 million dollars per year, and has been injured the past two years.

If you eliminated guarantied contracts, teams could get on the right track much quicker than before, with a small cap hit to the team.