Scoot McGroot wrote:nykballa2k4 wrote:Texas Chuck wrote:
If the Thunder and Kemba agree a buyout is in their best interest and Kemba and the Lakers then decide him signing there is in their best interest I remain 100% fine with it. I believe strongly in player agency. I'm not looking to hinder Kemba because other people hate LA and can't handle the optics.
I don't think that is one bit fair. If Kemba was not on OKC payroll, then I would be fine with it, but the notion of being paid by a tank team so you can play for a contending team is a double-dip and a problem. Lowry is a bit better (some would probably argue much better) at this point and a team is going to have to use considerable cap to sign him. Kemba will waltz in for free if $ isn't an issue.
If you want freedom of movement in off season as well as on the court, just make the NBA a giant socialism game. All $ is paid for production and being on the roster on a per-day basis. No more contracts. If you are on a roster you get paid, the better you perform the better you are paid.
In this hypothetical, the Lakers would only be able to sign Kemba with the MLE, maybe even just the taxpayer MLE. Lowry also has the right to sign the MLE anywhere he wants, if he so chooses. But Kemba, if the team decides they’d rather pay him to go away than rehab his value, can’t play wherever he wants, for his market salary?
Yeah 100%
Imagine if Antonio Brown, who got paid a giant signing bonus by Oakland, had his breakdown as a stunt so that he could get paid, get cut, and sign for peanuts on a superbowl team. That would be almost criminal.
There is some social contract between fans and teams and players. The expectation is that the team is trying to put out a winner. Fans come to see players and via being the "product" that advertisers are paying for or being the customers, are both directly and indirectly paying the team. OKC has a responsibility to not create a competitive disadvantage for the league as a whole. Paying a former all-star, starting-level player to start for a contending team is bad for overall competition in the league.
Taking this 100 steps further... and I think this debate was had years ago...
If 3 teams, say Bulls, Pacers, Pistons all got together and said "we are small markets, we don't want to be generally high over the tax, we all want to make a profit, and we want to win championships" they could, the three of them, make trades every year just in the triangle where they load one roster, and have two farm teams, then rinse-repeat. Two chances at a lotto player every year, then stack what would become a revolving grown up AAU-All-Stars.
That is full blown collusion, but the small ground-level is buying out a player so that they can play for what feels like the same price any team despite cap situation, is in some way collusion. If Kemba didn't KNOW a contender would pick him up, he would never ask out. He knows they will, back channels, agents, etc. That's why it is criminal.
IDK what everyone's employment situation is, but it would be comparable to getting laid off of a job, getting a nice severance package, and working a new job off the books while on severance and unemployment to get the max benefit.