With the NBA offseason seemingly in the rearview outside of a few under-the-radar roster moves to be made throughout the Association, I find myself torn on one of the biggest questions in all of sports today: Should players, particularly superstars, be more loyal to their employers?
It all began during the summer of 2007 when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce with the Boston Celtics, forming the initial “Big Three,” ushering in the “superteam” era and giving Beantown its first championship on the hardwood in 22 years. While there had certainly been other “Big Three” teams throughout the history of the league (highlighted by the Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen Chicago Bulls and the Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy Los Angeles Lakers), 2007 was the first year the term came about that has come to define the NBA over the past decade.
The most popular of which was when the best all-around player of all-time in LeBron James joined Chris Bosh in signing with Dwayne Wade’s Miami Heat, which led to two titles. Then there was the Golden State Warriors who built a homegrown “Big Three” of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green before creating the “Hampton’s 5” with the signing of Kevin Durant and Andre Igoudala’s extension. Now the Warriors are somehow even more daunting after the signing of DeMarcus Cousins, who agreed to sign for the mid-level exception of just $5.3 million to rebuild his stock on the best team in the league while rehabbing from a torn Achilles.
Factor in Kyrie Irving’s insistence on being dealt to the Boston Celtics, Chris Paul forcing his way to the Houston Rockets, James signing with the Lakers and the bizarre case of Kawhi Leonard, and many are left wondering: What happened to loyalty?
All these stars wanted out of what they deemed as bad situations and were skewered by not only the public but also the media for “ring chasing” and not being loyal.
I personally hate the idea of superteams and have hated that the past four Finals featured the same two teams. I like parity. I love rooting for the underdogs and enjoy when the favorites go down. But in basketball, more so than in any other sport, elite talent wins out far more often than in football and baseball because there are far less players who make an impact. I want to see the Warriors go down and an upstart underdog reach the Finals.
But it’s also a two-way street. Front offices are just as ruthless, if not more so, than the players. The more I think about it, the less I want to condemn the never-ending merry-go-round of star players changing teams.
Take DeMar DeRozan for example. He has the been the leading man behind the Toronto Raptors rise to prominence over the past five years and lifted the franchise to heights it has never seen before. He loved the city of Toronto and the fans and had no desire to play anywhere else. Toronto’s General Manager Masai Ujiri promised DeRozan at the Draft he wouldn’t be traded and again at the beginning of Summer League. Then… BOOM! Toronto trades him to San Antonio in a package deal to acquire Leonard.
Think about what Isaiah Thomas went through with the Celtics last summer. He had a breakout season in 2016-17, averaging 28.9 points per game with career highs in field goal, three-point and free throw percentage to earn his second all-star appearance and finish fifth in MVP voting. He believed he was in line to receive a max contract and be the star for the Celtics going into the future.
Then he got hurt during the playoffs, tried to play through it for his team, coaches and the fans and gets rewarded for his guts by being shipped off to Cleveland.
Teams and front offices are just as ruthless as players can be. As much as I want parity, I can’t ignore that. Players have the right to control their own future, and it’s wrong to vilify them for leaving to go to a better team. It’s not like they even had a choice where they got drafted to begin with. Maybe it’s time we, as fans, recognize and accept the harsh reality that is today’s NBA: Loyalty doesn’t exist.
Joshua Campbell is the sports editor at The Columbian-Progress. He can be reached at (601) 736-2611 or by email at joshuacampbell@columbianprogress.com
