I agree with Adam Silver and them, or they agree with me, that whiny superstars are becoming too much of a problem in the NBA. You can't have the best player(s) on the team threatening to leave when the going gets tough. If every professional had that mentality, we'd still be in the Stones Age type shit. No kind of organization can reach it's full potential if the centerpiece of a long-term plan suddenly decides to bounce. But the Nets sorta made their own bed, because ever since they moved to Brooklyn they've been trying - and basically failing - to like build an instant superteam. The New Jersey Nets from the early-aughts were, in terms of accomplishment, better than any roster they put together since coming to NYC.
And yes, we're living in the Lebron Era, but one thing I will say about LBJ is this. To my recollection, he never forced himself off of a team. He went to the Heat when his Cavs contract expired, back to the Cavs when his Heat contract expired and then to the Lakers when his second-Cavs contract expired, at least the way I remember things (i.e. I don't feel like looking it up). He may be a superteam feen, but he's not a quitter, or at least not that type of a quitter. If he was, then he'd likely be demanding a trade from L.A. as we speak.
So even though I often use Lebron as the quintessential example of a transient superstar, I'm not placing the superstar diva phenomenon on him. To me, Kawhi Leonard is the bigger culprit, like it kinda hurt me personally when forced himself off of the Spurs. But the thing is that he's a grown man, and he had his reasons. Maybe he handled things unprofessionally, but you can't get mad at dude for wanting to leave a specific team. Sometimes it's like that with all of us employees, like we may just up one day and request that our employer to transfer us to a different location.
So now, let's play a game of what if. What if Kevin Durant is going to play, say, another five seasons in the NBA, and each of those seasons he wants to play on a different team, you know, just because? What if you have some highly-touted rookie like Zion Williamson come into the NBA, looking at a 15 year career, and like each of those years he wants to play in a different city, you know, just for the experience type of sh*t? As Bobby Brown would say, that's his prerogative.
And in the NBA, we already have something like that with these 1+1 contracts. But I can't never remember the few players (KD and Lebron and I think Kyrie) who actually agreed to such deals leaving after one season. There's a risk factor involved because if you sign a shorter contract and then get injured, it's like you're out of mad dough. And there's no class of worker's compensation quite like being an injured yet actively-listed sports star. So as long as that temptation exists, there's going to dudes like signing away their happiness. And I know this may contrast with what I said earlier about team loyalty. But my point is even if you do decide to pull a James Harden out this piece, there has to some middle ground where it doesn't make the player look like a deserter.
CONCLUSION
So maybe in the future, one-year contrasts will become more standard. In a way, free agency would even be more predictable if it were like that.
If you agree to play for a team for four years and after one year are already miserable, then I would have to say that players should be able to bounce. That's some videogame mode for your ass. And then, at least the players you do you see playing for an organization, like you know they actually want to be there.
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