Fuck you, pay me || The player empowerment in NBA

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"𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐝? 𝐅𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐞. 𝐎𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞? 𝐅𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐞. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐮𝐡?

𝐅𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐞."

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If you recognize this quote, I'd like to consider your taste in movies pretty good. This is due to the slim possibility that your taste in them is similar to mine. That is a quote from the 1990 released Martin Scorsese directed crime drama Goodfellas. The movie can be summed up like this; Henry Hill's rise in mafia ranks. Though summing up the movie to just one sentence does no justice to it, so I'd recommend watching it.

That quote in question came, as Henry Hill was explaining to viewers how the mafia works. Not the greatest mafia of them all - the Moscow one - but Italians New York-based mafia. It was explained so that if you want protection from the mafia, you gotta pay for it. If you don't have the money, for whatever the reason is, good things won't result from it.

Player empowerment in the NBA is basically players having more control over things. They can affect their team's decisions more and they have lots of negotiation power in contract talks - and trade talks; leaving by request.

NBA players becoming more and more empowered is, at least considered by many, a good thing. Players know their value and have learned to use their voices for good things. This also cuts lots of uncertainty; players are becoming more and more powerful while front offices are becoming weaker. This, however, does not result in just positive things. For many players, this has given the "fuck you, pay me" attitude.

The biggest of superstars have have always perhaps just as much power as the front office. I mean, Bill Russell demanded his salary to be raised to $100,001 a year after Wilt Chamberlain signed a $100,000 a year contract, as he became the first player in NBA history to reach six digits on his pay-check.

The difference is that nowadays many players can press the front office to give them a big contract or they'll leave. Like any player nearing star level. You can have sidekick players asking for money that is realistically allocated for finding the franchise star.

It's to the point that it seems every year players' salaries go up. They consistently want more. When they're given more, they want even more of it. But when they're given more of it, it isn't guaranteed that they'll perform to the level that players of that paycheck usually perform.

It's nearly like some of these players have a god complex. And it's very fear-mongering for the front offices. Many small-market teams feel like they have to sign their players to large contracts to guarantee that they'll stay because they often don't have other chances of building their team than through draft. And the players most certainly aren't guaranteed to stay even after that.

In 2016, Anthony Davis signed a contract with the New Orleans Pelicans for 5 years and nearly $130,000,000. During the 2018-19 season, he decided he wanted out. He was sitting out many games. He was on a minutes restriction to make sure he'll be in good shape for whatever his next team was to be. He had decided that he wouldn't play in New Orleans, and that's it. He didn't even have to go all-in on his last season. And it was a totally understandable move. It was player empowerment.

As I said, many small-market teams feel the need to sign any good player to a big contract to make sure he stays. when Charlotte Hornets signed Nicolas Batum to a 5-year $120,000,000 contract? Just this offseason he picked up the player option on that contract to earn nearly 30 million for next year. Batum, who's arguably best trait is scoring, averaged less than four points per game last year.

Nearly 30 million.

And with these whoever's earning more money than some other players, everyone feels like they need to bite into the asses of these executives and ask for more money. I mean, sure anyone would want to earn more money than Chandler Parsons, who bagged 25 million in salary last season and played just 54 minutes in the entirety of it. He earned on average $465,000 per minute played.

And it isn't just about earning more money than others. Sometimes it's about delusion on the players' part. Victor Oladipo had a great run with Pacers in the 2017-18 season. He had a noticeable dip in the level of play next season, but he was still an all-star. Then he got injured, and for a player relying on his athleticism, it was horrible. With the little his played since the injury, he hasn't looked too good. This offseason reports came out about him considering himself a superstar and wanting to get paid so. He looks to get over $25,000,000 in the 2021 offseason when he becomes a free agent. Pacers, due to being a small-market team, could've given that contract to him had he continued his career in a similar path as the 2018 season. But now, though us not knowing how he'll perform this season, it looks like a stupid move to offer him more than 20 million.

Players leave their teams to get a bigger role as well. Russell Westbrook recently in the fall of 2020 requested a trade from the Houston Rockets, due to him rather playing as the floor general than the second option. And it is the front office's job to build a good team that fits around their superstar. But it isn't just the best of players craving for a role.

Another instance of 2020 offseason; free agent Jerami Grant, according to sources, received the exact same offer from the Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons. One is a contending team where Grant played in the previous season, other is a team that is just starting a rebuild and is a mess. The 26-year old power forward signed a four-year contract with Pistons. The clear motive was a bigger role. He'll be spending his peak on a rebuilder. Though, if he gets bored of losing, he can always use his power and force his way out of the team.

With the trades of likes of Isaiah Thomas and Demar Derozan, a league-wide frenzy started. This was the point where most fans said that no front offices should be trusted. And in all honesty, it is like that. Demar Derozan had been told that he won't be traded, just like he wanted. Poof. Just like that, he is traded to the San Antonio Spurs. Isaiah Thomas came off of a career year as a near MVP candidate. He is traded for the next all-star point guard on the market.

So you could argue that the player empowerment era started with a fear of uncertainty, which then turned to the confidence of the players. They learned what they're capable of. They weren't just assets. Entire franchises relied on them. They are the most important part of the game.

The players make the league.

But the executives are put into tough situations. A player underperforms heavily in comparison to his contract; that doesn't mean the player can't sign a new contract. Plus he gets paid a lot. Seems like a win-win for him. The executive who makes the decision better have a pretty good relationship with the owners though. Their jobs rely on making the right decision - sometimes the riskier one as well. If the owner values team success, but the team just isn't getting it done, the executives have to start doing things drastically differently over time. The frustration builds up and they give a bad contract to get a new guy there. The team star gets paid less than him, what does he do? 1, ask for more money in extension, which in result will hit the team's cap hard with two guys making big bucks. Or 2, use the player empowerment and request a trade.

The perfect balance between players and front offices having the right amount of power may never be found. Well, it would be awfully tough to say when it is in balance anyway. But when the executives and players fully trust each other, things SHOULD go well.

Back in the day, it seemed like the trust was shared between the franchise star(s) and the front office. Look at the careers of Reggie Miller, Kobe Bryant, and John Stockton. Now no one trusts in anything other than the power of money - and the role in the team for some.

These friendship teams, like the Nets with Durant and Irving, and the overall uncertainty, must give the teams the feeling that they have to ask everything from their best players. From who the team should draft, to who should they go for in free agency, everything must be given the thumbs up from the man of the team. This does give the player and team a feeling of trust. Until the team is unable to pursue the star's best friend.

At the time of writing this, November 21st, we have just begun the 2020 NBA offseason. This makes the time when I'm posting this more relevant. Another chance for players to force teams to sign big contracts in order to keep their players, more players requesting trades to go on a team where he has a more favorable role, and overall just more player and team interaction activity. This also a good chance to look at what player empowerment could lead to.

One thing that it certainly leads to is players having shorter tenures on teams and playing on more teams. It could go to such heights for some players, that soon as there is something displeasing about certain players' team, he wants out. We could be looking at more high profile journeymen.

Similar teams as the ones in the 2019-20 season, the good duo teams, would likely thrive. Two main stars are getting paid what they want, and then you can build a team by their needs. Though, with no patience, or with players not liking their roles, it could end like the Rockets; disaster.

Though this could be realistically blowing the empowerment out of proportion. I mean, in the long run, the principle of it is for good purposes. Team's had too much power. It is about time that players, who had been mostly treated as assets, go-ahead and do the same thing to teams; toy with them. Though it is of course not a good thing. As earlier I mentioned the balance between player team relationship team, I think the current situation could be described as chaotic balance. People of both sides might pull some crazy stuff at any given moment.

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So is it bad that the players have so much control nowadays? Was it better when the front offices had all the control? Those are perhaps some questions that might come to your mind after reading this. I do, in fact, think that player empowerment is a good thing. Though it feels like it very quickly started spiraling out of hands. Can't help but to think that it is going a little far now. Every single offseason NBA team's salary caps raise. More and more of their money goes to the players. However, the NBA revenue is going up as well. But is it going up at the same rate as player salaries? At the end of the day, who am I to say what's best for the league.

#NHBA

#Bulls

BIHKL :tm: