Rights of an NBA Franchise Player

Among the 3 biggest stories in this quite hectic off season besides the NBA draft has been the trade demands of 3 notable Franchise players. It first came with Kobe’s public meltdown as the boiling point had been reached with a handful of appalling moves, or should I say non-moves by the LA organization. While the media generally agreed that Kobe had reason to be upset, few supported his public outcry trashing an organization that had stuck by him for so many years. Soon after it was KG making headlines as the loyal Timberwolf, while not announcing it publicly like Kobe, decided it was time to move on. The general public and media couldn’t hold anything against Garnett – even if he set fire to the Target Center, few could blame him as he literally spent his whole career single-handedly trying to carry his Wolves past their inevitable mediocre fate. Much below the radar as a result of all the drama of this summer, Paul Pierce joined in on the fun and gave the ultimatum “Get help or trade me”.


Franchise Players

This latest fad by NBA franchise players has sparked an interesting debate, well I believe it should anyways, on what actual rights do these NBA franchise players have? Can they ask for anything? How many years do they have to serve before being a sellout?

I’m not going to draw this out and assume there is a long winded out answer. The answer is simple. Franchise player or not, you have no right to ask for a trade. Let me rephrase that as this is a free country after all – you CAN ask for a trade, but unless your contract states so, the GM can tell you to shut the F up and go to practice like every other player on the roster. You think Carlos Boozer cared enough about the Cavs after getting drafting to not stab them in the back for a resign? You think Grant Hill cared to give his last years helping out an Orlando team in need of a veteran after he spent the last numerous years eating away all the salary cap space. No, this industry is not about compassion, its not about ethics, its about hard cold cash and business. NBA teams are businesses and NBA players are businessman. Each try to squeeze as much out of the other as possible. Of course you have exceptions: aged stars joining teams at mid level exceptions for that final shot a ring, teams hiring old players into the organization – but these are the exceptions and not the rule.

Looking at Today’s Real World Through Our 3 Current Cases

Kobe Bryant has been cleverly tricked by Buss and the LA organization to sign a multiple year contract under false pretenses. While Kobe wants to win, Buss is more concerned about selling tickets, keeping Showtime in LA, and slowly rebuilding in the process. For him it’s a perfect situation. For Kobe, a public outcry of legendary magnitude was perhaps the only way to get any heads turning – a quiet request through his agents would have undoubtedly been ‘lost in the mail’. So in the end you have Buss’s trap versus Kobe’s ambitions. In the end I really can’t blame Kobe, although the way he went about it is definitely questionable. Buss’s conniving trap is now wide in the open, and Kobe really forced his hand to the point where keeping Kobe might not be in LA’s best long term interest!

For KG I think it is a no-brainer. The guy is the most loyal franchise player in recent memory and despite all his efforts and struggles, it is evident that the team still needs to start from scratch and rebuild. There is no point keeping KG around for that so I see his trade as benefiting both sides.

Paul Pierce falls into a weird position in this situation because he 1) didn’t get cheated over like Kobe 2) didn’t serve as long as KG 3) isn’t as good as these two players and hence does he really belong in a championship team? I know this is a hard pill to swallow for Pierce fans but there are only a handful of Championship Franchise Players around: (Kobe, KG, Duncan, LeBron, Wade). These are players that when they are on any team, they immediately give the team championship hope. Paul Pierce is sadly not on the list, so his request seems a little unwarranted in my eyes. While this is an extreme example, imagine if Josh Smith asked for help on the Hawks or he wants to be traded – just isn’t right is it?


Business is Business, but can PR help?

In the end, the NBA like any other high profile business environment, is a cutthroat industry where everyone will try to maximize their own personal goals. The one recent development in today’s world is the concept of PR. This has proved to be important enough that these cutthroat environments are forced to tone down in the light of the public eye. So at the end of the day, hopefully the NBA fans’ presence will be sufficient in helping organizations be less ruthless, and NBA players being more ethical – if not, then TRADE ME!