The last time I laced my shoes up for an organized basketball game I was around 16 years old playing for my high school varsity team.
At that time I can only recall thinking how tough life was for me as a student athlete.
I appreciated the process of preparation but I recognized the difficulties to maintain a standard of success for an athlete, especially when it gets to a professional level.
Fair Pay and Contract Guarantees in Sports
What’s understood doesn’t need to be explained.
Athletes, players, however you want to label them, are the most crucial, important and significant part of all shades of greatness produced in sports.
It is a tough reality that as of the year 2024, 99% of NFL players don’t have fully guaranteed contracts, or UFC fighters, who make less than 20% of the UFC organization’s total revenue profits, don’t get fairly compensated.
I give these examples to make the point of how progressive my favorite sports league, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is.
There understanding of how in a professional sports organization the power of the players should never be in question is what you call “underrated”.
This article will not display negative comments towards anyone, but it is troubling for me that such powerful entities like the NFL, UFC still have to improve many of their policies in place to do what is right for the athlete/players.
The True Demands on Pro Athletes
When you look at the sacrifices athletes/players have to endure to perform, it shouldn’t be for debate that they are the most valuable asset.
As a professional athlete the demands of performing at a high level will always be there, and for them to maintain a lifestyle that does not hinder their body physically is a challenge most human beings would not be able to suffer.
Even with pro athletes, some never get to develop the discipline and commitment needed to reach their fullest potential, but still get to be professional athletes because of their raw natural talent and skill.
The NBA, one of the 5 most profitable sports leagues in the world, prioritizes the well-being, financial security, and personal development of its players, thereby doing right by them.
From my perspective their way of empowering the players starts with financial security. The rest though, relies on the player.
NBA players who are considered superstars are the ones who perform at the highest level on the court. These players are the ones who will always hold the cards as long as they are physically and mentally healthy.
Big, medium and small market teams, the NBA is known for doing anything possible to promote competition parity, meaning they want the quality or state of competition to be equal or equivalent.
Free Agency and Player-Driven Trades are Shaping the NBA
Providing more context to the statement of star players’ power in the NBA, they have such that they basically get to determine where they play. Through free agency and player-driven trades, the NBA has had star players often join forces on a single team.
CBA rules and regulations will always push and shift towards trying to have star players stay loyal to their homegrown franchises throughout their careers.
Most of the time, star players get criticized when they decide to take advantage of their power and embark on their personal journeys to constantly challenge themselves in their professional basketball careers in the NBA.
I did have an issue from a fan perspective when in 2016, Kevin Durant made the decision to join the Warriors after losing a 3-1 lead against them in the Western Conference finals.
As a fan of the NBA, I disliked Durant’s move to the Warriors at the time, but today I think completely differently about the move.
Player’s should feel comfortable when they get the ability to take control of their careers, because there will never be anyone who will have their best interests for their careers but themselves, and even though I disagree with most of Kevin Durant’s career decisions, it has to be respected the fact he gets to choose where he wants to take his talents to.
The empowerment of star players has introduced both opportunities and challenges for NBA owners, presidents, general managers and members of the front office.
While having a star player will most assuredly elevate a team’s profile and success, managing their influence, demands, and expectations requires careful strategy, negotiation, and balancing of both short-term and long-term goals.
The Importance of Stability in NBA Leadership
Being in those higher up management positions you hold the responsibility of running an entire organization from top to bottom, the room for errors is actually really small.
Is having a coach the star player gets along with and “approves of’, or teammates he respects and is willing to push the limits alongside them to do anything to win a game.
My point is not to say it all depends on the happiness of your best player to be successful, it is that ultimately as an organization you have to maximize your best assets/pieces.
Sometimes it comes down to getting rid of that star player, but as an organization if it gets to that scenario, you have to be in a position where you get the best value in return for that player.
A person of reference for anyone who would like to become an NBA executive is a person by the name of RC Buford, president of basketball operations for the San Antonio Spurs for more than 20 years.
Buford and the Spurs are a blueprint for any NBA organization when it comes to building and sustaining a team whether it is for short term or long term success. I believe stability contributes a lot, and shows why sometimes some owners should be more patient with a GM or President to establish a foundation.
The harsh reality of working in positions like those of leadership in front offices such as President or General Manager, or even head coach, is that expectations to prove positive results are demanded to be seen as soon as possible.
Some owners feel pressure from fan bases to make immediate changes when things don’t look good, which is completely understandable.
Any industry where in a company, establishment or organization things don’t go accordingly, it will always make any smart owner take action into modifying things by making adjustments or adapting to what proves to be efficient.
Could a $1 Billion Deal Be Next?
The NBA seems in route to having players one day possibly sign contracts worth a total of 1 billion dollars. Possibly star players will make more money off an 1 NBA season than the team’s owners. I don’t see anything wrong with this pattern, but I would like to see an NBA in which star players decide to take less money to create moves that work in favor of the team.
I believe it starts with the players.
The idea that a player will have a contract worth 1 billion dollars is not crazy to think, let’s say the contract is over 10 years which would account for 100 million average annual salary (AAV). If he takes a 30 million pay cut it will still be an immense amount of money as his salary.
Kind of like what Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh did once upon a time in an offseason in the year 2010. The three of them decided to take the exact same deal of 6yrs/108m, that accounts for 18 million AAV and not considered fully max contracts at that time.
The decision to take less money allowed the 3 hall of fame players to join forces on the same team in Miami and eventually win 2 championships together.
Nowadays in 2024, you see Paul George leaving his hometown team in the LA Clippers, where he had declared he would play until he retired, to another team that was willing to give him his desirable 4 year contract.
Nothing against PG’s decision but the investment from the Clippers to acquire him essentially makes it one of the worst trades in NBA history. He leaves after 5 seasons and 0 championships.
I’m always more interested in the team side of situations more than the player side, which is why I feel confident I prefer being a NBA team executive rather than an NBA player representative (agent).
Again, every team has different needs and that is not to say Paul George made the wrong decision for himself.
One thing for certain as an NBA executive I will be one that always takes immense pride in doing anything to maximize all assets available to me.
Identifying and maximizing talent/assets are two completely different things. And only a few organizations do well at both.
This article was written by Miguel Deya and edited / verified by Ryan Knuppel.
