TORONTO -- As the NBA prepares for the largest salary-cap jump in league history this summer when its nine-year, $24 billion television deal kicks in, commissioner Adam Silver said "there will be unintended consequences," which could include the possibility of star players joining forces on teams already loaded with multiple max-contract players.
Such an outcome would run directly counter to one of the NBA's key objectives in its most recent collective bargaining agreement -- ratified in late 2011 -- to create more balance throughout the league by forcing teams to pay a harsher tax and other penalties for spending above their salary cap.