Kevin Durant Just EXPOSED The NBA's Problem

Kevin Durant just exposed the NBA’s problem, and if these trades keep going, the NBA will need to change a lot. Most times we see stars demand a trade with just 1 year left on their contract. They inform the team that they ain’t signing a contract extension. The threat here is that they’ll leave after the next season is over and the team won’t get anything back. Remember when Anthony Davis was seen as wild for demanding a trade with a year and a half left. And a question was asked back then, is this good for the NBA? Can stars not honor their contracts? The worst was Ben Simmons who set a new precedent by demanding a trade 1 year after he signed his contract. He also said that he was not going to a single game for the 76ers, again with 4 years left. Now, less than 1 year from that, Durant is forcing his way out with 4 years left on his contract. Yes, 4 years. He signed a 4 year contract extension in August last year, after carrying the Nets in the 2021 playoffs. And not 1 year later, and he’s demanded a trade before his extension has even started. Part of throwing so much money at a player is to have the rights of the players’ services for that duration. NBA teams have already committed over 2.6 billion dollars worth of contracts in the first few days of free agency. Jokic signed a 5 year $264 million dollar deal, Beal with 5 years $251 million, just imagine if these players also demanded trades. LeBron used a different tactic. Rather than signing a longer deal and trying to force his way out, he signed 1+1 year deals. Basically 1 year with the second year being a player option. Was this necessarily good for teammates? No, because they didn’t know whether LeBron was committed beyond the season, teammates would have added pressure to do well or management was going to trade them in a heartbeat to try to keep LeBron. The NBA came up with the supermax in 2017. The whole point of the supermax was to incentivize players staying loyal for their team. Players had to play 7 or 8 years in the league and still be with their original team unless they were traded. There were other requirements involving All-NBA team selections, MVP, DPOY but this was reserved for stars in the league and allowed teams to offer 35% of the cap. Front offices have also been horrible to players. Remember when Harrison Barnes got traded mid game. DeMar Derozan was collateral damage in the Kawhi trade. Derozan wanted to retire a Raptor and management said show Usher meme “Watch this”. Some of y’all may not even remember the last NBA lockout in 2011 when no one was even sure if there would be an NBA season. To simplify a more complicated situation, 22 teams had lost money in the past few years, players were at odds with owners who were worried about guaranteed contracts. Players wanted a more flexible salary cap to keep earning more while owners wanted a hard cap. The negotiations led to Kobe talking playing for Italy, Durant’s 66 points at Rucker Park, actually maybe this lockout would be lit af. The current CBA expires in 2 years and with one of the biggest stars in the NBA demanding a trade with 4 years left, we may see guaranteed contracts go away. Maybe for the money to be guaranteed, stars can’t demand trades for at least 75% of their contract. However this sets a dangerous precedent. Stars can go wherever they want whenever they want meaning smaller market teams that already have a hard time attracting talent will get screwed over even more. The Nets are allowing this to happen because they want to be seen as a destination that stars want to go to, a destination that treats star players right. They have no obligation to do anything KD says. But keep in mind that not only has Durant demanded a trade, he has a no trade clause meaning he can veto the best trade deal because he doesn’t want to go to the Pelicans or Kings or whatever team But the NBA is taking notice. The Nets are getting walked on all over. The NBA has stepped in before, fining teams for resting high-profile, nationally televised games. With a new TV deal looming in 2025, we’ll see.