According to sources within the NBA, there is a sense among team owners that the era of player empowerment, where athletes have significant influence over their destinations, may be coming to an end, per new reporting from Heavy’s Steve Bulpett. Granted, these owners may be projecting a bit even as some power swings back in their own direction.
“I think the whole player empowerment piece that has been running in the league for the last couple of years? I think it’s about run its course, because so many just haven’t worked out,” said a source from the league’s Eastern Conference.
“The poster child for that failure and the way in which guys force their ways to different teams at premium prices, you know, the James Harden effect, I do believe that owners are talking to each other, and they’ve had enough.”
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“I KNOW they’re talking to each other, and it’s at the point where some of them have been burnt by this stuff and most of the rest of them have been played in some form or another,” they added.
“They’ve either been bidding for guys in trades or spent time looking at that stuff when they should have just been paying attention to their own business. And it just looks so bad for the league. The optics are awful. Everyone’s talking about Draymond (Green) putting (Rudy) Gobert in a headlock, but guys like Harden have been putting their teams and the league in a headlock for a few years now.”
“It just looks bad to fans who are out there saying, ‘Who’s in charge here?'” said the East source.
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In truth, it is pretty unlikely that the so-called era of player empowerment is over, but with the many such incidents of ugly scenes created by public requests and the drama which has followed may indeed push team owners to change the way such trade requests are handled more than they already have.
But it’s also worth noting that as frustrating as such scenarios tend to be for teams and fans alike, they are also MASSIVE drivers of engagement the league may not want to entirely put behind them.
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