This story appears in the Feb. 11, 2019, issue of Sports Illustrated. For more great storytelling and in-depth analysis, subscribe to the magazine—and get up to 94% off the cover price. Click here for more.
The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement runs 482 pages, and that’s not including another 80 or so dedicated to Exhibits. The Table of Contents is 22 pages long. Reading the document from beginning to end is impossible. Even skimming it, from "Article I—Definitions” (sample: “‘Commissioner' means the Commissioner of the NBA.") through "Exhibit J-2-2: Minimum Procedures To Be Provided By The Accountants” (sample: "The Audit Report (and any Interim Audit Report or Interim Escrow Audit Report) must be prepared in accordance with"—Oh, never mind), is enough to glaze over the eyes of even the most ardent MBA-textbook fetishist.