Excess leverage was almost everywhere

And the job market is hurting in many sectors:

On opening night, there could be 30 or 40 fewer NBA jobs than a year ago.

Depending on exactly how large a roster each team wants, the total number of players is a bit higher than 400, so in percentage terms this is a big drop.  You'll notice that while NBA wages are adjusting downwards, the quantity of labor demanded is falling as well.