But “don’t be an asshole” isn’t exactly written in contracts.Īnd, as it turns out, Cronin and the Blazers were always going to find an appropriate home for Dame. Now, could Joe Cronin, Portland’s GM, behaved better than not talking to Lillard for eight days when Lillard showed up to work out with the team? Yeah. But teams don’t owe a specific non-contractual element to any player, and they certainly don’t have an obligation to make another team better for change on the dollar because of a player’s past performance. In other words, teams have a natural incentive to provide their on-court stars more than contract dollars. A team’s nexus immediately shifts to what’s necessary to secure the team’s future and the success of the players still on the team (and their jobs). Satisfying such a request results in the player competing against you all of the extra catering and kowtowing that might be owed to a star on your home court has no bearing when he’s trying to do it elsewhere. But while max salaries in the NBA are inherently bullshit 3, a trade demand isn’t a moral or financial debt that needs repaid. Every franchise has an incentive to provide players of Lillard’s caliber far, far more than just the money. While there’s a credible argument that stars produce on the court on a per-minute/per-dollar basis more than a max contract provides, anything extra a team does for its players is purely a faithful acknowledgment of the qualitative relationship the NBA has with its brightest stars. Quelle surprise.īecause the Blazers didn’t ‘owe’ Damian Lillard anything, either. Turns out that making unprecedented trade demands on the Portland Trail Blazers-which make it much more difficult to responsibly effectuate a trade-tends to upset fans of the Portland Trail Blazers. Dame exposed himself to disparagement from the fans that adore(d) him. We can reject the concept that Lillard has a debt to repay in Portland while also being incredibly irritated that Lillard’s demand to play in Miami, and only Miami, was supposed to make him immune to critical reaction. But sucking down nine Rogue Dead Guy IPAs means you’re probably getting drunk. Lillard is not some bastion of sin to be as restrictive as he was with the trade request. You, too, can walk off the job.īut it’s not a morality thing it’s a transactional one. Teams owe players their contract value when the players show up to work Portland wasn’t entitled to Lillard’s labor simply because they will pay him money in exchange. Obviously he’s only entitled to the money on his contract if he actually plays, but it’s critically important to understand the subtle order of operations there. He excelled at his profession, and now he seeks a new opportunity. This has nothing to do with his astounding heroics performed for for the team in the past. And, frankly, it would be preferable if he wasn’t on the court at all than half-assing it or playing a random, minimum number of games under load management rules (which Lillard himself doesn’t really need to adhere to if he doesn’t care about the related honors and bonuses). He didn’t have to play a minute on the court for Portland if he didn’t want to-that’s human agency. Multiple truths can exist from different points of view, but that doesn’t lend well to neatly concluding that any party to the ordeal failed in meeting their commitments to the other.Īfter the trade to the Bucks 2, the seemingly happy disposition of both Portland and Lillard proves that nobody actually owed anybody anything at all.ĭamian Lillard didn’t ‘owe’ the Blazers anything. It was always, infuriatingly, analyzed as a reductive, zero-sum, “one side must be morally right, and the other side must be morally wrong” situation that failed to consider human elements and diversity of thought. The agonizing, annoying, and interminable saga surrounding Damian Lillard’s future (or lack thereof) with the Portland Trail Blazers and/or Miami Heat came to a merciful end last month when Portland sent Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks 1. Damian Lillard poses in a uniform that, interestingly, does NOT say Miami Heat.
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