Austin Rivers says Star Player Freedom is bad for the NBA

[Diondon]

Only thing I have an issue with is forcing trades and not fulfilling your contract that you signed because you're a malcontent
Simmons ass should be out the league
Everything else was agreed to in collective bargaining

 

[TrillaMonsoon]

GMs barely want you to get to free agency on your own. Everything is trade him for something now.

Within the CBA a player is well within his rights to ask for a trade at anytime. Is what it is.

GM and players both have to be able to do what's best for them.

I get it. I'm not actually of the opinion of feeling bad for the teams and players getting paid and having power is more along the lines of how it should be.

I will just push back on your last sentence in that a lot of these GMs cant do what's best for the team if their top player says they want to be traded and then only want to be traded to certain teams. I know their situations are completely different, but both Harden and Dames team have 1 team they can trade their player to regardless if its actually a good return. If you want to be traded, that's one thing. If you want to be traded but only to a specific team, especially a year after your own free agency, that just doesn't seem realistic.

 

[Cladyclad]

fukk all that Demar and Blake signed contracts

Harrison got traded during a game

Tell owners to honor contracts and then I will agree

 

[tremonthustler1]

Bench players talking like starters I hate it. Real convenient that he chose two players who just happened to request a trade after playing for his pops. Even if this is what you truly believe not a good look speaking out as a current player

more like a podcaster talking like a podcaster, and considering his relationship with his pops comes and goes it ain't like he out here ridin for Doc.

Austin at this point knows where he stands in the league

then the nba owners should negotiate better during the next collective bargaining talks

The owners dont tow the line properly at all, if they really felt a certain way about players jumping out of contracts they would collectively freeze out /ignore players making mid contract trade requests.

Thibs did exactly that with Jimmy and it ended horribly for him.

 

[LV Koopa]

Hes not talking about it from a fan/owner perspective. Hes talking about it from a players perspective. He said it started with Harden or Simmons when the first time I personally remember it happen was Vince in Toronto. A player, with a contract saying, "fukk it, I dont want to be here and gonna make it clear". It sucks for the franchise who has that player because now they dont have any leverage but it really sucks for that fan base.

To me he was saying, dont sign a contract for a team you know you dont want to be with. I think that's fair but I also dont blame players for signing these deals that equal up to an extra $30-50 mil. But dudes who do that, then more or less phone it in or sit games with phantom injuries is saying "fukk you" to his teammates. I can see why those mid level, vet minimum guys would be annoyed dealing with that shyt

The fans don't matter and shouldn't matter in these decisions.

One thing that doesn't get talked about in these situations is when you have a star player and the organization lies to them or makes moves that won't help the player win now. Even if they said they would. That is one of the reasons players ask out. Management fukks up or does some dumb shyt behind the scenes but all we see is the end result of the player asking out and they are dragged through the mud.

 

[tremonthustler1]

This got me thinking. I remember a few years ago, when Kyrie was kicking around the idea that players should start their own league. With all the money that the Saudis been throwing at sports, with NBA contracts being structured the way they are, if they got involved with basketball, could we potentially see something like we saw with the PGA Tour?

Your superstars won't go first, but the play would be to play the guys who are in the middle and some star players crazy amounts of money that the NBA just can't come close to. A top heavy NBA salary structure kind of enables this kind of fukkery to be a possibility. Unlikely right now, but who knows in the future.

unless Saudis wanna fit the bill to build arenas in cities and get through all that red tape, there's no chance it'll happen in America.

If Kyrie wants to play for Al-Habibi the way you got guys like Ronaldo in soccer doing, I guess that's an option but players don't wanna do that. NBA fans will whine about places they've never been to like Charlotte, but we'll be cool with a general exodus of players 12-15 hours away?

 

[In The Zone '98]

I will just push back on your last sentence in that a lot of these GMs cant do what's best for the team

GMs move on their own accord 99 percent of the time.

The CJ trade did not make them good enough. Trading for Grant did not make them good enough. Extending Simons did not make them good enough.

Dame has signed FOUR contracts with the Blazers. It's over.

 

[LV Koopa]

GMs move on their own accord 99 percent of the time.

The CJ trade did not make them good enough. Trading for Grant did not make them good enough. Extending Simons did not make them good enough.

Dame has signed FOUR contracts with the Blazers. It's over.

True, but if your player says trade me to only this 1 team - the GM is fukked if you're dealing with a superstar that's still playing at an All NBA level.

 

[Shadow King]

Stop blaming the workers for shyt the bosses wanted. Dan Gilbert and co made these goofy ass super max deals, trade restrictions, and tax rates because they was pissed that Lebron went to Miami. He was a free agent when he did that shyt btw so miss me with that doing things the right was bullshyt. It's not like the contract changes when they get traded. That same 4/5 year deal carries over. The owners were stupid for thinking they could pay guys a crazy contract and that would keep them from leaving.

While this is true, a big point against this is what you said, Bron was a free agent. Bron exercises his right to leave while honoring his contract.

I mean these teams can just stop signing players that do this. What does it show top players when teams will sign someone that forced their way out from their current situation, which the same thing happened before with the current team?

The teams doing bad deals and crying after, you do not have to go through with a trade. If you are a team with the top player and you do not have to trade to get that player as another team. Simple.

It isn't as simple as "stop signing them" because you can't necessarily anticipate what they'll do. Philly paying Ben was problematic for other reasons, but no one could him spending 2 years in street clothes.

In fact Philly is likely handling the Harden situation based on that, there's supposedly some handshake deal they wouldn't honor. They're not paying Harden the 55M/yr many teams would. Rightfully so.

Dame signed his contract while sitting on the fence and being too scared to be the villain for leaving Portland but overall he's earned the right to demand a trade after 11 years of service where the organization refuses to build correctly.

 

[tremonthustler1]

No they aren't lol. Who are these underpaid mid-level players?

Brooklyn was a shyt show, forcing his way out made sense.

He's a shyt show.

The problem with Harden in particular is that he had a golden opportunity to go wherever he wanted, but didn't wanna give up the salary (and nobody with money wanted to pay him). Now he opts in and he wants to make demands knowing damn well the team who trades him can't even extend him? I'm far from a Morey fan, but I'd order 50 pizzas to his house and bill him out of spite.

GMs move on their own accord 99 percent of the time.

The CJ trade did not make them good enough. Trading for Grant did not make them good enough. Extending Simons did not make them good enough.

Dame has signed FOUR contracts with the Blazers. It's over.

after the third one many wanted him to go, except him. Nothing changed between the 3rd and 4th contract extension that shoulda made him rethink everything he did.

 

[TrillaMonsoon]

GMs move on their own accord 99 percent of the time.

The CJ trade did not make them good enough. Trading for Grant did not make them good enough. Extending Simons did not make them good enough.

Dame has signed FOUR contracts with the Blazers. It's over.

I have a hard time believing Dame wasnt involved in those conversations.

How much influence he had is probably minimal, but I doubt he was taken by surprise with any of those moves.

But now I'm just being pedantic and not actually disagreeing with you on 95% of your posts.

 

[num123]

While this is true, a big point against this is what you said, Bron was a free agent. Bron exercises his right to leave while honoring his contract.

It isn't as simple as "stop signing them" because you can't necessarily anticipate what they'll do. Philly paying Ben was problematic for other reasons, but no one could him spending 2 years in street clothes.

In fact Philly is likely handling the Harden situation based on that, there's supposedly some handshake deal they wouldn't honor. They're not paying Harden the 55M/yr many teams would. Rightfully so.

Dame signed his contract while sitting on the fence and being too scared to be the villain for leaving Portland but overall he's earned the right to demand a trade after 11 years of service where the organization refuses to build correctly.

When i say, "stop signing them", i mean the players forcing their way out of teams. If they did it to one team why would they not do it to yours?

Lillard seen what happened over the years he was there AND he still signed again with the team. If he wanted to really compete for a ring he would of left years ago, or at the very least not sign the current deal. No one forced him to do that at all.

 

[CrimsonTider]

This didn’t start with James Harden but he is the most egregious one. Dame I can forgive because we all knew his ass tried to make it work. Even Kobe at some point wanted to be traded.

KD to the suns is the most egregious one

 

[tremonthustler1]

When i say, "stop signing them", i mean the players forcing their way out of teams. If they did it to one team why would they not do it to yours?

Lillard seen what happened over the years he was there AND he still signed again with the team. If he wanted to really compete for a ring he would of left years ago, or at the very least not sign the current deal. No one forced him to do that at all.

because everyone thinks their p*ssy is wetter. Miami doesn't think anyone would do that to them. It's Miami! Some teams know they're always on a short list for players unless they're dysfunctional. On the flip side, a team will draft someone first overall (like say Zion) and the countdown to win a title started on that day.

 

[Shadow King]

He's a shyt show.

The problem with Harden in particular is that he had a golden opportunity to go wherever he wanted, but didn't wanna give up the salary (and nobody with money wanted to pay him). Now he opts in and he wants to make demands knowing damn well the team who trades him can't even extend him? I'm far from a Morey fan, but I'd order 50 pizzas to his house and bill him out of spite.

after the third one many wanted him to go, except him. Nothing changed between the 3rd and 4th contract extension that shoulda made him rethink everything he did.

Harden being Harden isn't mutually exclusive with Brooklyn being a shyt show. I don't disagree with most of what you said, but I simply don't blame Harden for pushing out of Brooklyn.

I do disagree, however, that nobody was going to pay him.