Poll: The State of The League

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Players SHOULD have control over their own destinies and be able to influence transactions. I don't really understand these people who want the owners and GMs to have all the power.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Genuinely don't see an issue with any of this. People just want players to be restricted and bend to their will. Very, very suspect attitude towards them.

[MixxAOR]

Free agent can do whatever they want. I have no issue if they talk before the free agency or decide to team up. But you have to honor your contract. Demanding trades is low. If you don't trust the organization then sign 1 year deal. But don't sign long term deal, secure your bag and then not honor it.

[MixxAOR]

And it's barely "player empowerment" it's a star player empowerment. Anthony Davis forced his way to LA and guys like Lonzo, Hart, Ingram had no say in it.

[inthepaint]

no shit

[Puffer]

Players SHOULD have control over their own destinies and be able to influence transactions. I don't really understand these people who want the owners and GMs to have all the power.

Wow. Don't expect anybody on this board, or who reads it, to sign a contract with YOU. What happened to fullfilling the terms of your contract? Nobody was putting a gun to the head of any of these players when they signed their existing contracts. A player always has the option of refusing to play and then not collecting a cheque for however many years are left. It is nothing but entitlement to insist on getting paid, and then dictating where you will go.

I have no problem with Kawhi going to another team. He was a free agent. And more importantly, he played to his potential while with Toronto. He didn't mope, coast or try to poison the work environment. He got paid and was worth every penny. He came to Toronto because the Raptors offered San Antonio more than any other team, based on the Raptors perception of his value to him. That is a free market operating. Even the forced trade of Paul George to the Lakers isn't strictly tampering. Kawhi made his wishes known, Paul George was agreeable and the Lakers had the option of not making the trade.

[golden]

Wow. Don't expect anybody on this board, or who reads it, to sign a contract with YOU. What happened to fullfilling the terms of your contract? Nobody was putting a gun to the head of any of these players when they signed their existing contracts. A player always has the option of refusing to play and then not collecting a cheque for however many years are left. It is nothing but entitlement to insist on getting paid, and then dictating where you will go.

I have no problem with Kawhi going to another team. He was a free agent. And more importantly, he played to his potential while with Toronto. He didn't mope, coast or try to poison the work environment. He got paid and was worth every penny. He came to Toronto because the Raptors offered San Antonio more than any other team, based on the Raptors perception of his value to him. That is a free market operating. Even the forced trade of Paul George to the Lakers isn't strictly tampering. Kawhi made his wishes known, Paul George was agreeable and the Lakers had the option of not making the trade.

Paul George didn’t force anything. Let’s stop twisting this narrative. OKC welcomed that trade “request” with open arms. Their cheap ass owner probably popped open a bottle of champagne when he heard about it.

[Apollo]

Paul George didn’t force anything. Let’s stop twisting this narrative. OKC welcomed that trade “request” with open arms. Their cheap ass owner probably popped open a bottle of champagne when he heard about it.

Word was they were shocked and that Paul George did indeed force it. Doesn't matter what your views of the owner are if were talking what actually happened.

[Rudy Bargnani]

Paul George didn’t force anything. Let’s stop twisting this narrative. OKC welcomed that trade “request” with open arms. Their cheap ass owner probably popped open a bottle of champagne when he heard about it.

He paid the highest luxury tax in the league last year and his team with Paul George on the roster has lost in the first round 2 years in a row. I agree he probably opened a bottle of champagne but it’s because he doesn’t have to look like the bad guy to rebuild a team that was first round fodder.

[golden]

Word was they were shocked and that Paul George did indeed force it. Doesn't matter what your views of the owner are if were talking what actually happened.

The reaction to a superstar trade request from 99.9999999% of the league is to hold an auction. OKC made a secret trade under the cover of darkness. Nobody was twisting their arms to do that. Ownership didn't want the backlash from the fanbase to lobby them to change their minds or PGs. Trading an All-NBA player this fast without anybody knowing has never happened before. OKC wanted badly to do it.

[Apollo]

The reaction to a superstar trade request from 99.9999999% of the league is to hold an auction. OKC made a secret trade under the cover of darkness. Nobody was twisting their arms to do that. Ownership didn't want the backlash from the fanbase to lobby them to change their minds or PGs. Trading an All-NBA player this fast without anybody knowing has never happened before. OKC wanted badly to do it.

PG's agent was twisting Presti's arm, that's the whole idea of a trade demand. The demand is an arm twist and if it's not met then it leaks to the public and leverage is lost.

How many executives out there do you know who are broadcasting that their star player has demanded a trade? That's a position of weakness to have that news out there and so it makes sense that they kept it secret, leveraged Kawhi aspirations against the Clippers for a strong opening offer, then leveraged the competing Raptors to increase that offer. The Raptors and Clippers both had lots of assets to offer and those were the two teams in the running for Kawhi, they played it as well as they could play it.

I think you're reading this completely wrong. They pulled the trigger fast because the most leverage they had was before Kawhi made his decision and word got out PG demanded a trade out of town.

[Shredder]

There should be a team no trade clause. Not built into every contract, but could be used as another option. We already have, player option, team option, no trade clause for the player. The team should get something similar, especially when signing a player to a max or super max contract.

If a team is planning on building around a max player, that max player should be there for them to build.

[slaw]

Genuinely don't see an issue with any of this. People just want players to be restricted and bend to their will. Very, very suspect attitude towards them.

What? Absolutely no one is saying that. Players can go anywhere they want.... in free agency. Free agents can get together and pick a place to go. I haven't seen a single person opposed to that. What people are opposed to is players not honoring the contracts they sign and, two, third parties (other teams or their employees) conspiring with players under contract to break their current obligations.

[octothorp]

I think the league should regulate trade demands. Make it something official that the player needs to file paperwork on. Gotta state your reasons for the request, your preferred teams, and any contact between you or your agent and those preferred teams' ownership or players. The team or the league can request an investigation if they suspect tampering by another team. Have different levels, including a trade request to any other team, down to a trade request to somewhere around 3-5 teams, with more restrictive requests having financial penalties for the player if the requested trade does occur. Trade requests to one individual team are not allowed (although a player can attempt to do this by limiting trade requests to one team he wants to be on plus two teams he thinks won't trade for him).
Players are limited in the number of times they can use it in their career, and they are kept confidential until the trade is completed, and even then only certain deals are made public (unless team and player agree to make additional details public), or until a certain amount of time passes. There is no penalty for a team failing to accommodate a trade request, or for trading the player to a non-requested team, although the trading team would need to disclose in negotiations that there is a trade request in effect and that they are not one of the requested teams.

[slaw]

One big picture note in this thread: this decade, the NBA has 7 different champions. That's the most in any of the last 4 decades of the league. Only the 70s has more (8). The NBA had three first time champions in the decade as well. The only "premiere" franchise to win a title was the Lakers back in 2010. Going into the new decade, there is no clear favorite to win the title.

So, from a competitive balance point of view, even with GSW and the Lebrons going to 4 straight finals, the league is doing something right.