Player loans* legal under CBA?

[Village Idiot]

First a little background to the question:

Once again Portland's season appears to be ruined by injuries with CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins all scheduled to miss a major portion, if not all, of the remainder of the regular season.

Strategically it makes sense for Portland to miss the playoffs and get a lottery pick so they don't have to convey that pick to Houston and hope to come back stronger next season.

At the same time we have seen before that Damian Lillard has a very strong will and tanking is definitely not in his nature nor is sitting out games with made up injuries. It would also be a shame to waste a season of his prime.

This got me thinking about whether or not a pre-agreed to trade and then trade back is legal under the CBA?

For example, could Portland trade Lillard to New Orleans for Reddick, Bledsoe and a 2021 NO and LAL picks and then when the new salary year begins New Orleans trades Lillard back to Portland for something like Bledsoe and Hood? That way New Orleans and Lillard get to contend for a year and Portland picks up a couple of firsts for the risk.

[DBoys]

This got me thinking about whether or not a pre-agreed to trade and then trade back is legal under the CBA?

Nope.

Not that it would be considered if it was.

[Village Idiot]

This got me thinking about whether or not a pre-agreed to trade and then trade back is legal under the CBA?

Nope.

Not that it would be considered if it was.

Is that due to it being specifically prohibited or due to an interpretation of the "disallow by default" mutual interpretation of the CBA?

Who would not consider it? It could be a win-win-win arrangement for all parties. In this example:

New Orleans- get to contend. Have plenty of pick assets
Portland- punt on the year, get a couple of picks and also improve their own pick
Lillard - gets to contend and play for something meaningful
NBA - I imagine a Lillard, Zion would generate a lot of buzz and eyes on screens

[DBoys]

There is no '"disallow by default" setup. The NBA rules are enforced exactly as written.

This proposal includes a secret side consideration as part of a trade. Those are expressly prohibited in trades or contracts.

[Village Idiot]

There is no '"disallow by default" setup. The NBA rules are enforced exactly as written.

This proposal includes a secret side consideration as part of a trade. Those are expressly prohibited in trades or contracts.

I only know what at read at Coon's CBAFAQ but he states in question 106 he states: "As any league executive will tell you, the CBA isn't a list of the things teams can't do; it's a list of the things teams can do. The league operates in a "disallow by default" mode -- actions are not allowed except where the CBA specifically permits them."

In my proposal, what is the "secret side consideration"? In my proposal both teams would be very clear when making the trade that Damian Lillard would only play for New Orleans for a single season.

[DBoys]

1 You asked a question: "This got me thinking about whether or not a pre-agreed to trade and then trade back is legal under the CBA?" The answer is no.

I don't want to keep playing the what-if game or be asked for extended explanations to give you an answer. This idea is far afield. Side agreements simply are not allowed. There is no such thing as a binding "agreement to trade X for Y in the future" so such a deal couldn't exist as part of the first trade. To exist it would have to be in an illegal side agreement (which is why I presume it would be secret). The term for a side agreement between teams - especially regarding players - is collusion, and is in violation of player rights and competing owner rights. Penalties are significant on multiple levels.

2 I think Coon is wrong (outdated) in that quote. If we go back 20 years and more ago, yes that used to be the operating guideline; back then, you could be penalized for violating "the spirit of the CBA."

But at some point (not sure exactly when, but maybe 2005 more or less?), the rules stopped working that way. It began to happen with regularity that one team and then another found CBA loopholes in violation of the spirit, and simply exploited them. Many significant examples. The NBA's response was no response at all (and no public explanation).

The NBA went a different route after that. When a loophole emerged, they would wait until the next CBA, and then add some tweaks to the rule to close a loophole. They also did this with rules that had at one time been enforced under the "spirit of the CBA" principle.

Personally, I think the prior NBA approach ended because they were quietly threatened with a lawsuit. The CBA is a collectively bargained legal agreement that governs how the league and the players work together, and specifies what can and cannot be done. It governs owners and players, and also impacts the work of agents, the lives of families, and more, and anyone who is impacted by it might have a valid grievance (or persuade a player or owner to file one) if it isn't enforced just as written. Unwritten rules to control where players live and play? A big no-no.

[Village Idiot]

Thanks for the detailed answer!

[Scoot McGroot]

Thanks for the detailed answer!

Also, there would be no legal way to enforce the 2nd half of the deal (the trade back portion). If NO decided they wanted to keep Dame and not trade him back as part of the “loan”, they just could. Trades are only legal when all aspects of a trade are spelled out as to what parts are being traded at that moment in time when called into the league, so the teams could only call in, and be held to, the parameters of the deal of Dame to NO. After that, there’s no legal enforceability on a “trade back”. Much like teams can agree to a trade on draft night, it’s not legal until it’s actually called into the league when all teams are able to legally fulfill their parts of the deal, and technically could fall apart at any point until then. In theory, many of these deals are only held together by the ethics of the respective GM’s and good reputation.