NBA commissioner Adam Silver isn’t happy about Kevin Durant‘s trade request after signing an extension last season, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press writes.
Silver said that players need to “meet their end of the bargain” after a franchise provides them with long-term security.
“This needs to be a two-way street,” Silver said. “Teams provide enormous security and guarantees to players, and the expectation in return is that they’ll meet their end of the bargain. There’s always conversations that go on behind closed doors between players and representatives and teams, but we don’t like to see players requesting trades and we don’t like to see it playing out the way it is.”
Silver said there will be negotiations with the Players’ Association regarding possible remedies to discourage players from seeking a trade after signing multi-year contracts, Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets.
“Its one of those issues that as we move into this collective bargaining cycle – we intend to discuss with our players association and see if there are remedies for this…We don’t want to see it playing out the way it is now,” he said.
Silver also addressed a number of other topics after the Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday:
- With load management increasing every season, Silver would be in favor of rewarding players contractually for playing more often. “I’m all in favor of guaranteed contracts,” he said. “But maybe that on top of your typical guaranteed contracts, some incremental money should be based on number of games played and results of those games.”
- He’s pleasantly surprised that league revenue topped $10 billion for the first time and basketball-related income reached a record $8.9 billion. “The numbers did surprise me to a certain degree because it exceeded projections, and the projections represent where we think our business is going,” Silver said. “I think it’s quite remarkable from where we came 2 1/2 years ago.”
- The league is nearing “the last stage” of its investigation into the conduct of Suns owner Robert Sarver, Reynolds tweets.
- Symptomatic persons will still test for COVID, but Silver could also see “pre-COVID protocols” becoming more of the norm again, Reynolds adds in another tweet.
- Silver favors the age limit for the draft dropping from 19 to 18, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets, and is “optimistic” that it could happen during the next collective bargaining cycle.
NBA and the owners are going to point at the Ben Simmons situation. It’s one thing to want a trade but to outright not even show up. Its a business be a professional and do your job until your traded.
U can point at the Simmons situation but it goes both ways. John Wall was paid 41mil to not show up to rockets. Fact is the players run the league. It’s been that, and will stay that way
@13morgs
The Wall situation was mutually agreed upon. Wall was traded to accommodate Westbrook’s trade request. Wall was a salary match. Because of his injury history and three desire to commit to developing Green and Porter Jr each side agreed to keep Wall on street clothes until a trade market developed. It never did and they ultimately decided to buy him out since his contract was due to expire anyway. Totally different.
If they want something punitive for requesting a trade with years left they will have to give something like 10 and 5 rights in baseball where vets auto get no trade clauses at a certain point.
They will never get the union to sign off on that without a huge concession in return, and I highly doubt they care enough about a few players asking out to give that much up.
The Nets could always say sorry dude your playing in Brooklyn, and they might just do that.
Also is anyone sure that they didnt have any sort of agreement when he signed that if he wanted out they would accommodate him. Like I remember in 19 the Warriors told him straight up to sign the 5 year max and rehab, and if he wanted out after year one they would deal him to a preferred location.
Simmons situation isn’t that simple. He was claiming a significant mental or emotional health situation, and the league won’t touch that (nor should it) with a ten foot pole. Durant just wants out because he’s butt hurt and thinks his team isn’t any good anymore without Harden and Kyrie. Dude refuses to carry a team, which he probably could. He always wants to supplement other stars.
Silver is a push over. The players run the league and the owners for the most part don’t care
I mean with league revenue topping $10 billion, why shake the hornet’s nest? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Exactly. Silver is doing fine.
He isn’t a dictator. And a lot of the suggestions he could make are likely to be rejected by the union. It’s not an easy fix.
It’s a small percentage of players who do this stuff, and only when they’re at peak power. And it shifts quickly.
Example: as recently as last summer Russ could go to Ted Leonsis and request a trade to LA; now, 12 months later, the only thing he’ll be negotiating is a buyout.
Having said that it’s a bad look for the league when one team (Brooklyn) has had 4 players on its roster in the last two years (Durant, Harden, Simmons, Kyrie) who:
A) Have made an All-NBA team in the last 5 years, and
B) Have either outright breached or come dangerously close (*cough* Harden) to breaching their contract in the last 18 months.
Yeah, Adam. It’s about time. Problem is that his unhappiness alone doesn’t mean much. Players don’t actually have the right to ignore their contracts and demand trades, etc., so, it’s not a simple matter of changing a few lines in the CBA. He needs to figure out why the NBA system he helped create normalizes this type of player behavior. Only then does he have a shot to change it.
Employee contracts bind only the employer. This is how it’s always been and can be no other way, since employees always have the option of getting out of the deal by performing poorly. This happens in every profession, not just sports, and is why having an individual contract is considered a major perk. Don’t fool yourself that it doesn’t happen in the NFL or MLB either. They’re just a little more quiet about it.
Wrong. Closer to the other way around. The fields in which employment contracts are common are those with key employees, and the contracts are generally (almost always) required by the employer. I suspect you have no experience in this or any other contract area. No shame in that, but there is reciting a myth likely reflecting the views of people who would never be offered an employment contract.
Can you blame KD?
Kyrie made Harden want to leave. They got Simmons, and I have just as much a likelihood of playing an NBA game next season as Simmons. And then the Kyrie situation imploded to the point of no viable return other than Westbrick and THT?
KD is not to blame for this situation. Silver should be upset with the Kyrie situation.
@philly
Nets wanted KD not Kyrie but they came as a package. KD wanted Harden. They acquired him. Kyrie had his issues as we know but KD did nothing to try and reel him in. Harden was like deuces I’m out because of Kyrie. KDis partly responsible for the chaos because he’s too passive. The thing that bothers me with KD’s lack of loyalty is this….. the Nets signed him knowing he would not play at all in 19-20. $37 mil exactly to rehab. And only 20 games from Kyrie. Yet, you haven’t played a single game under your extension and you demand a trade? And this demand comes after they decided to not placate Kyrie’s request for a max deal? #FOH Crazy.
KD cant really complain about what KI does, and cant blame others for getting sick of it.
On the flip KD signed his deal at a time when Marks said he was for sure signing all 3 of them to max extensions so I do get him being like this isnt the team you promised me when I signed and KI/Harden were supposed to also sign like 2 weeks after.
KD never had to leave GSW, its his fault for thinking joining a cursed, horrifically-run franchise with his friend who thinks the earth is flat was a “good idea”.
KD isn’t a smart man, he’s an arrogant moron who only knows ball and literally nothing else, even tanking his own career via his own twitter-induced stupidity.
And what concession will the league make when teams/owners/GMs uproot and trade a player who doesn’t want to be traded? Shouldn’t owners be expected to honor contracts as well?
@Hubcap
Owners are paying the cost to be the boss. The contract solidifies the terms of the service they’re being contracted to perform and the compensation over a given time. A player’s pay is guaranteed in most cases, so be it injury or a decline in performance the player gets 100% of their money due. In turn they can move you if needed. If the player wants some insurance against being traded then negotiate a no trade clause or sign short term deals.
The catch 22 is you can only get the real max money signing with your current team so you gotta get your bag then get out!
Trade kickers exist, you know.
The contracts explicitly give owners the right to make trades. So they are honoring their contracts. If players with no trade clauses were getting traded then that would be breach of contract in the owners side.
My favorite solution is 1 year contracts. Players sign these long term deals and hate it. NBA GM’s have historically given long deals to bad players. Fans hate both trade requests and albatross contracts. Make everyone a free agent every year.
The NBA is sprinting towards the edge of a cliff. TV viewership is down 60%, attendance is down, merchandise sales are down, the current tv deal expires in a couple years. There’s no chance the league gets a similar tv deal next go around. Is the league just pretending that this isn’t happening? Where is all this money going from?
*Coming from*
Its ok, your original take was stupid and wrong enough
What compelled you to lie like that? Like, nothing what you said is even close to being true, its literally the opposite – so you are flat out lying. Why?
Your user name says it all – you dont know basketball, you are just a useless troll.
@blood
the Boston vs GSW finals were the highest since 2015. regular session viewership was up 20%. league pass was up 30%. 2021-22 was a great year for the NBA.
Estimates are the new TV deal could be triple the current one actually!
I can’t wait for the next tv deal and you and your buddies are going to be like “BUHH.. BUHH… I thought cha goes woke ya goes broke m, gardammit!
Owners should vote for the right to put language in contracts that states a bare minimum time served. Aka Durant has the right to request a trade after year 3 of a 5 year contract.
Don’t like it, don’t sign it. Maybe another team will only make 2 years mandatory.
@bill
I was thinking the same thing. No trade request before 60% of the contract has been met. Then if a player wants out and a trade met the new team assumes the rest of that year of the contract. The rest of the contract is canceled out and the player becomes a RFA. The team they were traded to can have final rights to match an offer sheet and can offer 1 additional year.
the team the demand was made to does NOT have to match salaries with the team the trade is with. no need in forcing the original team to take back contracts they don’t want. The team acquiring the player has until the end of the season to get their salary cap done or pay lux tax. Let’s see how bad the player and the team really want to join each other.
@knickscavs
Great ideia. I think your should send it to the NBA/Players Union.
Not having to take back unwanted salaries is great. The teams would have their flexibility back again, to sign free agents more freely.
Gotta have a Kangs exception where your allowed to ask out of Sac year one!
Would that also come with an automatic no-trade clause during that time?
I find it so absurd to complain about people wanting to change their situation. Durant signed a contract and he is asking his employer to move that contract to a different employer. No biggie.
There’s an immense difference with the Irving and Simmons situations.
The “biggie” is that the trade request was made public and that tanks the leverage of the trading team and the value of the player.
The other problem is that disgruntled players that don’t have their demands met sit out or engage in malingering. Not saying KD is going to do this, but if the Nets don’t get a trade they like, will KD honor his contract anyway?
They call all 29 other FO to tell people he is available because you have to to shop him. Within 5 min Woj has the story that your shopping KD and everyone knows everything anyways…
@faux
It is a biggie when the Nets are forced to take back equal amount of money in contracts for players they may not want. But imagine a company paying you NOT to play because you’re rehabbing for the 1st year of the deal. They signed him KNOWING he was going to be unable to play the first year of the contract. Imagine a company being their entire strategy to be successful off of your talents and suddenly they demand to be traded to a competitor? That’s not fair and nowhere else in the business world would any employee think they can switch employers while under contract.
I live in Europe, companies do pay for sick people as they should. The Nets didn’t have to do that btw, offering a contract was their choice.
Everything revolves around the word ‘forced’. The Nets do not have to take any contracts they don’t want, they could bring him back. They could even insist that a team creates cap space to get durant first. If anything, the fact that the Nets were willing to pay KD for a year without play points to his value being higher than the artificial max salary. (Removing an artificial max salary would solve many issues btw)
Also: employees buying themselves out of contract literally happens all the time, as does it happen that you hire someone you have will be a pillar of your organisation and they leave.
@faux
We’re talking about three fact the Nets knew he tore his leg up and wouldn’t play for at least a year and they still paid him $37 mil to sit on the bench. They did it happily which imo showed class. Durant should remember that and show a modicum of gratitude and class. You want to dip because your partner wants to not play and still get a max contract too?
Imagine a guy with a 15% trade kicker demand to be traded? If a guy on a California team with a 15% trade kicker demands to be traded to a Texas or Florida team, he could basically increase is income by over 20%.
Good point!
I think a team should be in Vegas
No state income tax,!
Milwaukee Bucks become the
Vegas Bucks!……?
Do your research. Taxes do not work that way, they are paid to the states the games are in, not the one the team is in. So maybe a slight tax advantage, but not significant at that pay level.
Nice try adding right wing political content, though. How about this? In NY his wife ir girlfriend is free, in TX or TN she is breed stock.
50% of games are home games so it is still a pretty significant pay increase.
Adam upset
Not happy Silver.
Funny way to describe a business sutuation
Just make the first year or two a period where both parties need to sign off on a trade.
I think there’s something in here. Make mutual no-trade clauses (or rather: trade agreement clauses) the rule instead of the exception, with a sum to be paid proportionate to the contract and the amount of time left in case player or team want to trade.
E.g.: if a player initiates a trade, they have to give up 5% of their compensation in the first two years of their deal, a little less in the third year etc
If a team initiates a trade, they have to pay the same amount to the player.
So when Blake Griffin was told he would retire a Clipper when he resigned with them in free agency and dealt away to Detroit, I doubt he wanted to go there, mere 6 MONTHS into his 5 year max deal its ok, but when players do it its not ok??
Just my $.02 but I don’t have an issue with a trade request ; I actually think that’s perfectly fair. Player and team sign a contract – player is just as likely to sour on team as vice versa.
Where it’s an issue lately (from AD to PG13 to Harden to now KD) is that guys are basically using a trade request as free agency and making it clear that they’ll only be “happy” in certain destinations.
That to me negates the whole purpose of the contract. If you want out and you’re under contract then fine – the team will take the best offer if it makes sense.
If you want to go to Miami and you’re under contract then … I don’t know? Seems like a slippery slope if those requests keep getting acquiesced.
Between this and load management it seems like the table is being set for a duel over the guaranteed nature of these contracts.
That is 100% his+his agents fault for not requesting a no-trade clause in his contract.
I am with you. I am pro player movement and think it’s perfectly okay for a player to request a trade just as much as it is for a team to trade a player.
Can we point out what a great decision it was for the clippers to trade Griffin. They traded him for Tobias Harris and a first. Used the first on SGA and traded Harris for more picks.
Used those picks plus SGA for George.
So essentially the Clippers traded Griffin for Paul George and therefore acquiring Kawhi Leonard.
What about Blake Griffin? Signs an extension and then the Clippers trade him. It goes both ways.
@senior
but he’ll get every single dollar promised to him. l
Players can negotiate for no trade clauses though. But owners receive no assurances on their end.
Silver is so soft! When it comes to the pet causes of the players, he’s always in front of cameras making himself be seen and moving heaven and earth to make things happen for that. But in these cases, he disappears and rarely comments at all. Silver should’ve been on the record about this issue ages ago.
I agree with Adam Silver here on most of his points. I would argue Ben Simmons just flat out refusing to even communicate with a team is worse than a player of KD’s stature requesting a trade.
Simmons situation is so crazy, I wonder why NBA owners don’t start blacklisting players like MLB did with Barry Bonds.
It’s crazy how much this league has grown in the last like 10 years. Their revenue has grown 2.5 times, and pretty much rivals where baseball was now
Absolutely incredible. The owners have to be very happy with the job the NBA and Adam Silver have been doing.
I also think with as much talent that isnt in the NBA right now, there will be 2 expansion teams within the next 3 years, and maybe 2 more within 15 years from now
I actually agree with you here, the game’s overall talent level has never been this good, and it shows in pace of play – watching 80s/90s games really shows this off, the worst 2 teams in 2022 play a more watchable basketball than many 80s+90s+00s playoff teams played. We have only Steph Curry and only Steph Curry to thank for this.
Adam Silver has got to be one of the strangest looking human beings alive. But his brain is beautiful. I admire him for speaking out against Durant. Damian Lilliard said it best, players focus too much on the name on back of the jersey, but not on the name on the front. Durant has been a drama queen for a long time now. It’s pathetic. Silver probably realizes that the NBA turning into a soap opera isn’t good for the business long term. I love how silver mentioned how much security the teams give the players. These dudes get 40-60 million a year and then cry about their situations. Some of them even get into political commentary and complain about the country … while making that kind of money.
All I can say is that as the years go on, I am more and more grateful that I got to witness 90’s and early 2000’s basketball. I’ll always love the game and keep up with it , but this soap opera stuff just sucks. Much respect to the commish for being real with Durant.
Blame twitter and only twitter. Rich and famous people shouldn’t be on that app, it ruins their brains too much.
If Durant had some heart and stayed with the Thunder, how much more exciting would the NBA be? Durant watches the Suns on TV in the playoffs like we all have the last two years. He figures he can easily slide in and be the missing link to them winning a title. That’s how he wants to win rings and build his legacy?
Sheesh. He’s the NBA equivalent to that dude who waits until someone getting jumped is already on the ground beaten, and then he runs in and gets his shots on him. Disgraceful. Durant has no heart, and it’s time we as fans call it like it is.
If Durant had some heart and stayed with the Warriors, how much more exciting would the NBA be? GSW, the most exciting team with the most exciting player in Steph Curry, would have won the title last year and this one! As a GSW fan, KD playing for the Nets helps literally no one and he should have never left his rightful home, Golden State.
It’s not heart to go to a game 7 vs Golden state the prior year, and then join them the next lol.
OKC and GS could have had an exciting rivalry
@Lyman
I try to think, when did KD turn into a drama queen? He was well liked until he decided to join the GSW. Then he gets hammered for leaving GSW. IMO, weak when he joined the GSW but let’s not forget, Curry, Klay, Dray and Iggy went to HIM and asked him to join once the Cavs beat then in thr playoffs. When KD dipped it was because he found Dray too abrasive. In all other work place scenarios, would an employee be castigated because they wanted out of a workplace scenario where your coworker calls you a b@$ch to your face in front of everyone and says they don’t need you?. Except for his sensitive nature to the media and clapping back to internet trolls what did he really do prior to this trade demand to warrant being seen as a bad guy?
I don’t have an exact timeline when him being a drama queen started. But you don’t really seem to disagree when you point out his sensitive nature towards the media and fans. Plus now once again he wants to jump ship to an easy title.
Imagine if Ewing just left the Knicks and joined the Bulls who needed a Center? That’s basically what Durant did when he left OKC to join GS. Then he fought with Draymond, and then now he’s unhappy with BK too? Is he ever happy at all?
@Lyman
did he fight with Draymond? seemed like Draymond was the culprit calling him a b*tch. more constructive ways of trying to motivate a player who maybe missed coverage on a play e.t.c.
Jordan said much worse to people, and even decked Kerr in the face. Was Jordan not a great leader? Should his teammates have left? I get your point, but I don’t agree with it. There’s also many other examples of him being a drama queen, it’s not even that.
He’s very whiny and defensive/passive aggressive on all the various NBA talk shows/podcasts he appears on… and he also constantly attacks people on Twitter for silly reasons. He’s always been a drama queen and I’ve always disliked him.
I do give him credit that he has never let his hormone imbalance affect his actual play. I have no doubt if he’s not traded he’d still give 110% to the Nets every game. But man is he annoying.
While I get, and partially agree with Silver’s POV on this…. does he extend this ideology to the other side? IE does he believe all players should be given no trade clauses in every contract, or does he believe owners should be allowed to treat their player’s like property unconditionally, and should a player tries to cease control (a la Durant).. that player is “wrong”… IE is Silver a hypocrite or calling for a revolution of how signed contracts are seen?
@jeremyn
Worker vs EMPLOYER. Employer is bound to pay them 100% of that contract if they get hurt or their performance falls off the face of the earth. THAT’S the only commitment to the contract that matters. If a player wants to make sure they stay in that city then negotiate a no trade clause. These players are using the rule that this team can offer them more than any other team (5th year) and then demanding a trade to a preferred defensive once they are handed that max team deal.
I can’t see anything that can be done easily to stop trade requests. Unless teams stop doing it also.
After kd extension, after the trade request, now… , trades have come to a screeching halt. Waiting on the kd, ki situations i assume.
Dominoes.
The player has most of the power. No team is going to work out a trade with a star player, without the framework of an agreement that the player will actually play with them. (Unless its a immediate flip like Rasheed wallace)
Im not sure why Brooklyn even bothers to keep putting it out there that the situation is all in their court. Its obviously not.
This is the first time Skelator has had a good take on anything.
Where was Silver when KD left GSW for absolutely no reason? When are all NBA fans and media going to realize KD+Kyrie have a combined real world IQ of like 180? They are both extremely dumb humans when talking about anything but basketball.
@As
Seriously? His contract was up? He was a FA, the same as when he left Okc. That’s one of the weirdest examples of your homerism. He left you with 2 chips. Shut up and just say thanks. And the reason was likely Dray calling him a b*tch during a game and saying they didn’t need him anyway. Forgot about that? Is he suppose to stay and endure that?
Employ a hard cap and even the playing field. The money is outstanding for all concerned, but the prima donnas like Durant make such a ruckus that the whole shootin’ match ends up like yet another Downton Abbey soap opera episode.
Then owners need to stop giving out long term contracts. This ain’t anything new
Best contracts in the game are max’s tho so that might present a problem
Worst contracts are open cap mid tier contracts (Almost never going to get value here )
90% of this crap lays in 5 players
Westbrook Durant Simmons Irving and Ofc the ring leader Harden.
Not hard to bash that crowd, w/out Lebron or Steph that class is ring less as well as classless
The systems never been perfect nor will it ever be but these 5 players have been terrible for the NBA the last decade
NBA and owners did it to themselves. You let Bron run the league. Then you have KD and clowns like Kyrie. Who think they can do it too. It’s like children saying I want that too. Get one for me too………
As smart as Bron is with this game. He should wait till he owns a team. To do whatever he wants. The owners are fools to let players run their business. MJ the greatest ever. Can’t even get in the playoffs. It takes a franchise to build a winner. Just look at Warriors. Bron got Lucky in LA.
And he’s been tampering since he went to Miami. So let the players play. And let the franchise’s run the team. It’s not a one man job. So wake up