They were granted a salary cap waiver to add Carl Landry in a trade yesterday. The Hornets are owned by the NBA while they look for a potential buyer. Mark Cuban is infuriated and I'm guessing so are a lot of owners. The Hornets are hemorrhaging money right now and yet the NBA thought it was a wise financial move to let them spend even more on players.

I would like to know how many teams that are losing money are still taking on salary (i.e. is this a common practice?)

If the majority of playoff teams who also lose money do these types of trades, then I don't think it is that big of deal. However, there are teams like Utah last year that were playoff teams and seemed to be cutting salary, and if that is the norm, then Cuban has a legit claim.

I bet he has 2-3 other owners in the Southwest who agree with him.

i'm not really bothered by it, but i see his point.

the hornets are losing money, but if you just handcuff them and not let them make moves to improve their team, they're just going to stay status quo. they sell fewer tickets, lose even more money and that in turn makes them less attractive to potential buyers.

you add a solid piece that clearly makes them a better team and maybe you win a few more games, sell a few more seats, make the playoffs and maybe even make a little playoff run where you get 4 or 5 home playoff games. all of sudden that $2.24mil exception they were given has more than covered itself and also maybe made the team more attractive to buyers, which is the real objective. obviously there's no guarantee of that, but it seems like a reasonable gamble for just $2.24mil.

i definitely see where cuban's coming from. i'd be pissed off too if i had to come out of pocket to help one of my competitors get better. but i also think it was clearly a good move for the hornets and it's not like they're adding huge money.

didn't the spurs only make something like five million in profit last year?

i heard they were having problems with attendance, thus all these stupid 20 dollar ticket packages and free food nights.

kind of pathetic when a team is having a historical season by league standards and can't draw sell outs regularly.

If it were the Wizards or the Bucks, I doubt Cuban would have said a word about it.

But its a division rival and a potential 1st-round playoff matchup (well, it WAS until Utah traded Deron and NO picked up Landry).

I have no issue with it. I understand where Cuban is coming from but the league is putting the health of the league first. The league is healthier if fans can feel like they are not going to be penalized because they have a broke owner. You have to allow teams to operate to a degree as if they are able to compete. NO is a playoff team.

I remember how much I hated it when the Rangers were hamstrung by the budget process last year that cost them Matt Purke even if they were allowed to find a way to add Lee and others. It is very short sighted for the league to say, "you have a team that can make the playoffs and compete but we are going to deny you an even playing field because your owner can't manage his money".

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didn't the spurs only make something like five million in profit last year?

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Spurs don't make profit without making it to the second round.

This sounds a lot like what Obama/Congress have been doing to the rest of us.