[Article: “I Find It a Little Boring”: Michael Jordan’s Longtime Agent David Falk Explains Why NBA Free Agency Got Sleepy](https://www.gq.com/story/david-falk-on-the-state-of-free-agency)
> Now most stars follow a simple, lucrative, low-risk formula: sign for as much as they can, as soon as they can—and ask for trades later (if necessary), knowing they’ll almost always get it.
>“You don’t need free agency,” Falk said, “because these teams, the minute the guy says `I don’t want to be on the team,’ they accommodate him.” He added, “I think it’s terrible.”
by lopea182
21 Comments
He’s right. The players want the benefits of long term guaranteed contracts while maintaining the flexibility of forcing their way to wherever they want.
The minute a GM/Owner decides they don’t want a guy on their team, they ship him out.
It’s weird how conditioned we are to want the guy in the suit to have all the power. Especially in the case of pro sports where the guy in the suit is MUCH easier to replace than the talent.
Doesn’t this only apply to very high level players though? Wouldn’t free agency be for the players that aren’t on the level where a trade demand would be taken that seriously?
Do these dumbasses not realize a team would rather trade a player than have them leave in free agency?
Lol we gotta stop acting like this isn’t a two-way street
i think blatant tanking is terrible
This has made the league more competitive. Now instead of losing LeBron or KD for nothing, the teams get a package of picks and young players to help them in their rebuilds.
Isn’t part of this driven by basketball’s (more than any other sport) barometer for success is a championship? The problem is these guys toil away on mid teams that have no intention of getting better. They are happy being middling playoff contenders.
One of the reasons this works for the players is tanking. Take the Blazers situation with Dame. If they’re not trying to contend, they want to lose as many games as they can. So having a guy like Dame dragging them to regular season wins has negative value. Eliminate tanking and there’s less incentive to just ship the guy out, and you might see some resistance from the teams to accommodate the player.
Doesn’t this help teams more than free agency though? Like getting anything in return for these guys is better than nothing right? I agrée the system isn’t doing what it was intended for but the owners agree to this stuff just as much as the players do. Like as a bucks fan if Giannis ever wants out I hope it’s a trade and not just in free agency
The alternative is players leaving for nothing which was what was going on before. The idea that this kind of player movement is new is quite amusing. If anything smaller market teams have more power than ever and the parity that exists in the NBA now is something we haven’t seen since basically pre-Warriors dominance at least.
Then why did Owners get rid of FA essentially?
I mean, isn’t that only fair with there being a salary cap and all?
Okay but this system is also what’s best for the teams. Blazers fans bitching about Dame would have been in *shambles* if he signed a short-deal and left in free agency.
As long as there’s a cap on player income, there’s always going to be shit like this going on. Dame is getting paid less than he is actually worth to the team, so he’s an asset under contract.
This complaining is so fucking boring.
How can you people bitch about the players doing what’s best for them? The owners literally have a max salary limiting how much a player can make. Why is there an artificial limit on salaries?
Fuck owners, fuck organizations. Let the players make their money. If you’re gonna cap their salary, this is the trade off.
I don’t get it… the Blazers are doing nothing with Dame on the team. They benefit from trading him. Just trade the man and enjoy the fast rebuild.
It’s crazy how this sub is taking sides with a billionaire who doesn’t even try to build a roster to win at this sport, when he wants to hold onto his best player and lose him for nothing. This just goes against being a fan at this point, why support such a shit franchise during this?
The players want the benefits of long term guaranteed contracts while maintaining the flexibility of forcing their way to wherever they want.
Heat flair so I’ll get downvoted but if this suddenly just stops (it’s been going on for a long time outside of Dame) and players leave in free agency for nothing, there’s going to be a ton more crying and complaining from fans and even front offices lol.
Yep, and if you say anything negative about it around here, you get accused of rooting for the “nameless corporation” lol
what if supermax contracts reverted to regular scale max contracts if the player demanded a trade/was traded from their original team?