Dennis Schröder Compares NBA Trade Deadline to Slavery

[Nate505]

Who will be the first to defend these comments?

We've had a few people here who have echoed this sentiment before. Perhaps they are on vacation.

[MrBigShot]

Dumbest quote from any player of all time

[D.Brasco]

The average 9-5 office worker paying off their bills and debts is about 10,000 times more of a modern day slave than someone who is paid tens of millions a year to play basketball.

[MrBigShot]

Comparing it to slavery is dumb, but it’s still weird when you think about it. You sign a contract to play with a team and then they trade you to a place you didn’t agree to be in.

Is there any other profession where workers can be traded for each other? The concept of trading humans against their will is weird.

The NBA is one big business, not 30 businesses. Players are compensated exceptionally well to account for things like mandatary media interviews, spending a lot of time on the road away from family, and potentially being traded elsewhere

Dennis Schroeder gets paid $13 million a year. Would I take 13 mil if it meant I might have to spend half of a 6 month season in a different place? Hell yes.

[Nate505]

There are points of comparison between trading players (in most sports leagues) to trading slaves but there are significant differences too. When players make the comparison to slavery, they have their lived-in experience of the disparity of power-dynamics between themselves and the owners. While we on the outside, mostly see the differences because we're made peace with the power-dynamics within our own lives.

Yeah, significant differences.

Like the player can refuse to go and just retire from the league instead of getting chained and horsewhipped. That would be a rather significant difference.

But other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln.

Like I said. Personal experiences lens everything a person understands and sees. If youre disagreeing with that statement, I don't think you much wisdom.

It's kinda funny how you attribute understanding to a feminine quality. I bet you're a great conversationalist.

A feminine quality? The "Mrs. Lincoln" line is a metaphor for minimizing the painfully obvious elephant in the room to focus on something far more trivial.

There is literally no point of comparison between trading players and slavery. None.

[Nate505]

And just like that, Dennis is on the trading block lmao

Read on Twitter

I feel for him. He may have to experience slavery...again.

[Nate505]

Comparing it to slavery is dumb, but it’s still weird when you think about it. You sign a contract to play with a team and then they trade you to a place you didn’t agree to be in.

Is there any other profession where workers can be traded for each other? The concept of trading humans against their will is weird.

It's not against their will. They signed a contract that allows it.

And there's an easy way to get out of the contract. Don't move to the city you're traded to. That voids the contract, you can stay wherever. Very simple stuff. Nobody is forcing these guys to play in the NBA. They can play basketball overseas, or they can get a job as an accountant, plumber, artisan cheese maker, or whatever they believe they have the skill/aptitude/desire to do.

[runtmc]

Comparing it to slavery is dumb, but it’s still weird when you think about it. You sign a contract to play with a team and then they trade you to a place you didn’t agree to be in.

Is there any other profession where workers can be traded for each other? The concept of trading humans against their will is weird.

Nobody is trading humans, what on earth are you talking about?

They're trading contracts. Contracts the players signed of their own free will -- nobody forced them to sign. As Nate mentions above, they can walk away from their contract any time they like -- they just have to be willing to give up their salary, which, unsurprisingly they almost never do -- but its still their choice. Make millions to go play in a new city or walk away? Not a very hard choice. On top of that, lets not forget, the rules regarding contracts were collectively bargained -- by the players.

In fact, Im sure most players could get no-trades in their contracts if they were willing to give up some money. They know being traded is a possibility when they sign. They still sign the contract. None of this is a surprise. Everyone is playing by the same rules that everyone knows upfront and agrees to.

As far as other professions, NDAs, non-competes, non-disparagements etc are all common contracts that get signed every day in many industries -- you have the choice to sign or not take the money, just like an NBA player has.

In fact, its not uncommon when a company shuts down a branch/office to give employees a choice to either move locations or take a buyout/severance offer etc. NBA players are basically offered the same choice -- go play for a new team in their new location, or retire/take a buyout. The fact that they almost always choose to play for the new team doesnt mean the NBA is trading human beings, or that the player doesnt have a choice.

The difference with *actual* slavery is they never had a choice, because they were *literal property*. They were *actually* traded. To act like a contract to play basketball for generational wealth is remotely similar is an insult and the height of ignorance.

[leolozon]

Comparing it to slavery is dumb, but it’s still weird when you think about it. You sign a contract to play with a team and then they trade you to a place you didn’t agree to be in.

Is there any other profession where workers can be traded for each other? The concept of trading humans against their will is weird.

The NBA is one big business, not 30 businesses. Players are compensated exceptionally well to account for things like mandatary media interviews, spending a lot of time on the road away from family, and potentially being traded elsewhere

Dennis Schroeder gets paid $13 million a year. Would I take 13 mil if it meant I might have to spend half of a 6 month season in a different place? Hell yes.

They are indeed well compensated and the concept of trading human being is still weird. We are just used to it in sports.

Businesses that are in many cities, like any global business, don’t trade people. So the NBA being one business isn’t a good argument.

[leolozon]

Comparing it to slavery is dumb, but it’s still weird when you think about it. You sign a contract to play with a team and then they trade you to a place you didn’t agree to be in.

Is there any other profession where workers can be traded for each other? The concept of trading humans against their will is weird.

Nobody is trading humans, what on earth are you talking?.

Everyone seems to agree that Doncic was traded for AD and that both are humans.

I’m not sure why you wrote the rest as I’ve never said that this is wrong.

[runtmc]

Comparing it to slavery is dumb, but it’s still weird when you think about it. You sign a contract to play with a team and then they trade you to a place you didn’t agree to be in.

Is there any other profession where workers can be traded for each other? The concept of trading humans against their will is weird.

The NBA is one big business, not 30 businesses. Players are compensated exceptionally well to account for things like mandatary media interviews, spending a lot of time on the road away from family, and potentially being traded elsewhere

Dennis Schroeder gets paid $13 million a year. Would I take 13 mil if it meant I might have to spend half of a 6 month season in a different place? Hell yes.

They are indeed well compensated and the concept of trading human being is still weird. We are just used to it in sports.

Businesses that are in many cities, like any global business, don’t trade people. So the NBA being one business isn’t a good argument.

In the tech world its basically equivalent to poaching. The only difference is that in the NBA, the teams all have a set of common rules that they follow and while they act as independent businesses, they co-operate and form a league -- because you basically have to to have teams. In the business world, the difference is the businesses are competing against each other instead of co-operating together, and its the law that governs their conduct instead of league by-laws, so they poach talent from each other instead of trading contracts. But again things like non-competes, NDAs etc are all very common. Theres also informal agreements among many companies that they wont poach talent from each other. None of this is remotely unusual.

[runtmc]

Comparing it to slavery is dumb, but it’s still weird when you think about it. You sign a contract to play with a team and then they trade you to a place you didn’t agree to be in.

Is there any other profession where workers can be traded for each other? The concept of trading humans against their will is weird.

Nobody is trading humans, what on earth are you talking?.

Everyone seems to agree that Doncic was traded for AD and that both are humans.

I’m not sure why you wrote the rest as I’ve never said that this is wrong.

Nobody agrees with that -- literally nobody. In order to trade something, it has to be *your property*. Doncic and AD are not property of their teams. Their contracts are, and it was their contracts that were traded.

This isnt difficult.

[ChiTownHero1992]

The stupidest thing i've ever read on this forum and that is saying a lot!

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

This is probably the dumbest thing a player has said since he didnt have enough to feed his family because "yes we make a lot of money but we also spend a lot of money". Some guys are probably better limiting what they say for their own good.

like spree went bankrupt so he was an idiot but he can run out of money. schroder isn't going to be a slave any time soon

[BayAreaDub]

Trade me wherever you’d like if I had access to generational wealth like this. I wouldn’t mind sacrificing myself to set up my future kin for life.

Trade this guy back overseas

[California Gold]

Comparing it to slavery is dumb, but it’s still weird when you think about it. You sign a contract to play with a team and then they trade you to a place you didn’t agree to be in.

Is there any other profession where workers can be traded for each other? The concept of trading humans against their will is weird.

The NBA is one big business, not 30 businesses. Players are compensated exceptionally well to account for things like mandatary media interviews, spending a lot of time on the road away from family, and potentially being traded elsewhere

Dennis Schroeder gets paid $13 million a year. Would I take 13 mil if it meant I might have to spend half of a 6 month season in a different place? Hell yes.

They are indeed well compensated and the concept of trading human being is still weird. We are just used to it in sports.

Businesses that are in many cities, like any global business, don’t trade people. So the NBA being one business isn’t a good argument.

Businesses move people all the time to different cities and offices. It's not that crazy of a concept. There's nothing weird about a league maintaining competitive balance by trading away players to other teams. The idea of a league without any trades would be a near disaster.

You hear it every time when players get traded and say "it's a business". It's a business that all players have signed up for and have agreed to these rules as part of the CBA.

This is like an airline pilot complaining he has no life because he's always on the road. You signed up for it. Deal with it.

[Champ1on]

Comparing it to slavery is dumb, but it’s still weird when you think about it. You sign a contract to play with a team and then they trade you to a place you didn’t agree to be in.

Is there any other profession where workers can be traded for each other? The concept of trading humans against their will is weird.

Nobody is trading humans, what on earth are you talking?.

Everyone seems to agree that Doncic was traded for AD and that both are humans.

I’m not sure why you wrote the rest as I’ve never said that this is wrong.

Those are just semantics. The players are just working from one location to another and plenty of jobs required you to works from location to location. Think airlines, international business requiring you to move from location to location, or repair man, hardware support requiring you to move to different cities or states to fix things. There are jobs out that hired you in NY and then moves you to LA for their new office or inter department transfers. Don't like the job? Quit or get a no trade clause in your contract like Lebron. When you sign a contract saying you can get move from one team to another don't complain when it happens. Put it in your contract that says you can't be moved like any other work contract that is signed.

[ShootersShoot]

Modern slavery does very much exist today and the nba is not anywhere close to it..more like on the complete opposite spectrum.

I saw a picture on reddit of a woman tied up at an auction and the picture was dated last month. It hurt my soul to the core to see that. Dennis schroder is so completely ignorant it is infuriating.

[xAIRNESSx]

Takes like this are why people call NBA players the most spoiled and entitled athletes in all of sports.

[jaymo123]

I hate when these "know it all's" compare anything to slavery.