Least desirable trade destination

[Chris Porter's Hair]

Mitchell seems really happy in Cleveland FWIW. Love wanted to come back. Same with Nance. Kyrie later said he wish he had stayed.

I that the geographic location or the organization though?

Plenty of examples of quality organizations built in less desirable locations.

All current Piston (my team) players seem to love playing on this team. Doubt it has much to do with the city, which I also argued might warrant placement on the list.

Small sample size, but upon finishing my tour of all the NBA arenas, I'd say both Cleveland and Detroit were pleasant surprises. I figured both of those were "box check" visits where I'd get in, see a game, and get out, but I enjoyed both those visits.

[durantbird]

Why OKC? Are we taking into account the current teams' situations? Or are as talking in general sense?

[JayMKE]

There are only like 3 desirable markets in the NBA period honestly, LA NYC and Miami. The mid-tier markets are only marginally more desirable than the small ones, mid tier contenders aren’t suddenly super desirable rather just tolerable. NBA players might not be super excited about Utah or Toronto or Milwaukee but they’re not super psyched about places like Boston or Atlanta or Houston either.

[One_and_Done]

There are only like 3 desirable markets in the NBA period honestly, LA NYC and Miami. The mid-tier markets are only marginally more desirable than the small ones, mid tier contenders aren’t suddenly super desirable rather just tolerable. NBA players might not be super excited about Utah or Toronto or Milwaukee but they’re not super psyched about places like Boston or Atlanta or Houston either.

I'd say San Francisco is a desirable market for players. It's basically 6 teams who have top end markets from the point of view of the average player: NY x 2, LA x 2, Miami, and Golden State. Then there's a few markets were players are generally more keen on, but they don't rise to the level of those top 6. That includes places like Houston that are warm, have no taxes, and have good situations.

[Wolveswin]

Taxes and weather are highly overrated for NBA players in consideration.

Indoor sport. And they travel 50% of the time. They have enough money to have a 2nd house in their ideal location - which might have nothing to do with NBA city or not.

Taxes are paid by where they play - so even in high tax location for NBA home - only pay that tax 50% of time. Business and even endorsement deals don’t have to be paid to state they reside during NBA season. I mean, total cost of living (all taxes and variables) would be considered more than just state income tax rate. But with that, I higher cost of living comes with a reason.

I think to professional players their heritage is more important. Where their parents were raised, grandparents, etc. Was their parent a pro player and if so what team(s).

And in general, which NBA city is down their list. Maybe not in top 3.
Pay (but gets moved down list for stars - equal pay)
Playing time (on court opportunity)
Coach/teammates

[JayMKE]

There are only like 3 desirable markets in the NBA period honestly, LA NYC and Miami. The mid-tier markets are only marginally more desirable than the small ones, mid tier contenders aren’t suddenly super desirable rather just tolerable. NBA players might not be super excited about Utah or Toronto or Milwaukee but they’re not super psyched about places like Boston or Atlanta or Houston either.

I'd say San Francisco is a desirable market for players. It's basically 6 teams who have top end markets from the point of view of the average player: NY x 2, LA x 2, Miami, and Golden State. Then there's a few markets were players are generally more keen on, but they don't rise to the level of those top 6. That includes places like Houston that are warm, have no taxes, and have good situations.

I would agree that Golden State is an oversight but I think mid tier places are only really attractive if they’re contenders, the point being there are really only a handful of desirable markets then the rest of the NBA just based on location

[Scoot McGroot]

Mitchell seems really happy in Cleveland FWIW. Love wanted to come back. Same with Nance. Kyrie later said he wish he had stayed.

I that the geographic location or the organization though?

Plenty of examples of quality organizations built in less desirable locations.

All current Piston (my team) players seem to love playing on this team. Doubt it has much to do with the city, which I also argued might warrant placement on the list.

Small sample size, but upon finishing my tour of all the NBA arenas, I'd say both Cleveland and Detroit were pleasant surprises. I figured both of those were "box check" visits where I'd get in, see a game, and get out, but I enjoyed both those visits.

I previously lived in Cleveland for 7 years and I loved it. Outside People talk about the city as if the river is still on fire, but it’s a great food and bar scene. With the lake and the river, nearby national parks, great museums, etc, it’s a wonderful city. And affordable. Lake effect snow can get you, as can the “perma- gray skies” from October to March, but people are good up there. And it’s not homogenous.

I was born and raised in Indianapolis. I loved it because it’s home, but it’s pretty flat, and often feels homogeneously white? But, they revere their athletes there. If you play with effort and don’t talk crap about the city, no matter what happens, they’ll love you and respect you. Super duper stars like Peyton Manning were able to live quiet lives and let their kids just be kids there. And ownership makes sure that everything is nice and in good shape.

[Snakebites]

It doesn’t really have much to do with whether or not the place is a good place for a member of the general population to live. I’m sure there’s tons of people who love living in every one of these places.

It’s about whether they have characteristics that appeal to the multi-millionaire 20/early 30 somethings that make up most of the NBA population.

[One_and_Done]

It doesn’t really have much to do with whether or not the place is a good place for a member of the general population to live. I’m sure there’s tons of people who love living in every one of these places.

It’s about whether they have characteristics that appeal to the multi-millionaire 20/early 30 somethings that make up most of the NBA population.

This. I'd love to live in Boston for instance. I'm not sure most players feel the same sort of way about it.

[Snakebites]

It doesn’t really have much to do with whether or not the place is a good place for a member of the general population to live. I’m sure there’s tons of people who love living in every one of these places.

It’s about whether they have characteristics that appeal to the multi-millionaire 20/early 30 somethings that make up most of the NBA population.

This. I'd love to live in Boston for instance. I'm not sure most players feel the same sort of way about it.

I'd say Toronto is another prime example here.

It's a premier city- one of the best on the continent- on a "worst places to live" list I don't think it would belong. But NBA players playing in Toronto are still limited in their raw salary by the salary cap just like the other 29 team, and they have to pay higher Canadian taxes.

I don't think most NBA players view Toronto as Siberia anymore- I think that stigma is gone, but the money thing is a huge factor.

[SkyHook]

Taxes and weather are highly overrated for NBA players in consideration.

Indoor sport. And they travel 50% of the time. They have enough money to have a 2nd house in their ideal location - which might have nothing to do with NBA city or not.

Taxes are paid by where they play - so even in high tax location for NBA home - only pay that tax 50% of time. Business and even endorsement deals don’t have to be paid to state they reside during NBA season. I mean, total cost of living (all taxes and variables) would be considered more than just state income tax rate. But with that, I higher cost of living comes with a reason.

I think to professional players their heritage is more important. Where their parents were raised, grandparents, etc. Was their parent a pro player and if so what team(s).

And in general, which NBA city is down their list. Maybe not in top 3.
Pay (but gets moved down list for stars - equal pay)
Playing time (on court opportunity)
Coach/teammates

In general that may be true. In practice there are certain franchises which are disadvantaged beyond those three criteria. During the mid- to late-90s when they were making their deep playoff pushes, the Jazz notably met resistance from a few players—Derek Harper and Rony Seikaly in particular—who held up trades because they insisted they would refuse to report; "You go live in Utah." Whether they had legitimate reasons in their minds or not, Seikaly reportedly didn't want to leave the beach in Miami, they gave up potential finals runs.

[meekrab]

NBA players probably don't wanna live in any states where abortion rights are under fire.

[Norm2953]

One would think Toronto being a Metropolitan city would be appealing to the European players for
I still remember the Free agency of Hedo Turkoglu who famously chose Toronto over Portland.

NBA like MLB is international and perhaps with the choice of Yang, if there are more international players
from Asia, might be competitive with Asian free agents

[flranger]

How on earth is New Orleans not on this list? It's not even in the comments. Must be me....

Maybe not #1 but damn sure top 3

[One_and_Done]

How on earth is New Orleans not on this list? It's not even in the comments. Must be me....

Maybe not #1 but damn sure top 3

Because the thread is about the city, not the front office or ownership. Players seem to quite like visiting or living in New Orleans, at least moreso than these other options.

[JRoy]

How on earth is New Orleans not on this list? It's not even in the comments. Must be me....

Maybe not #1 but damn sure top 3

Because the thread is about the city, not the front office or ownership. Players seem to quite like visiting or living in New Orleans, at least moreso than these other options.

New Orleans is great to visit.

[GoBobs]

How on earth is New Orleans not on this list? It's not even in the comments. Must be me....

Maybe not #1 but damn sure top 3

Because Memphis, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota

Which one of those places are you picking over New Orleans?

[tmorgan]

This is largely player personality dependent, and thus far from universal.

Some guys want to be married (and faithful), be the best player they can be, and make a ton of money. For those kind of players, the Midwest can be very appealing. Slower pace life, ball comes first, less distractions.

Other guys want “the life” and the perks that come with it. Or want the massive exposure and additional income from a big city, cost of living be damned. New York, LA and to some extent Miami can’t be beat in that regard.

Of course, the truth is somewhere in-between for a lot of players. But it’s definitely player-dependent.

[One_and_Done]

This is largely player personality dependent, and thus far from universal.

Some guys want to be married (and faithful), be the best player they can be, and make a ton of money. For those kind of players, the Midwest can be very appealing. Slower pace life, ball comes first, less distractions.

Other guys want “the life” and the perks that come with it. Or want the massive exposure and additional income from a big city, cost of living be damned. New York, LA and to some extent Miami can’t be beat in that regard.

Of course, the truth is somewhere in-between for a lot of players. But it’s definitely player-dependent.

I'm sure there's some player out there who really wants to go to Utah, but it would be few and far between. This is about what the average player wants. The majority would put Utah dead last on the list of trade locations. That's why stars/players never demand to be traded to Utah.

[Daddy 801]

As someone who lived all over the county and moved to Utah I’m glad this is what people think. Please stop moving here!!

Weather wise Utah is pretty awesome, but some of the culture is pretty whack.

In my experience the people who make complaints about culture are talking about things that haven’t existed for almost two decades. I love it here and would have no desire to move back to the cities I’ve lived in before.

To each his own though.