OldSchoolNoBull wrote:Deivork wrote:OldSchoolNoBull wrote:This isn't exactly what you're looking for since he wasn't really betting on himself, but Shaq left Orlando after his rookie contract...this was in a brief window when RFA didn't exist.
Yeah why not? I don't know what window you're talking about (would be nice if you expand), but Shaq was able to choose LA over Orlando, so it works.
There was a ton of CBA negotiating and fighting going on in the 90s(ultimately culminating with 1998-99 lockout), and a parameter of one of a short term stop-gap agreement in 1995 was that RFA be eliminated. It was re-introduced in 98 or 99 after the lockout, for a few years there, it simply didn't exist. Shaq's first deal ended in that window, in 1996, and so he was UFA as soon as his first contract ended and Orlando had no matching rights.
Orlando, in maybe one of the five dumbest front office decisions ever, lowballed Shaq, and the rest is history.
Didn’t a Orlando newspaper do a poll asking if Shaq was worth that much money and magic fans said no?