What is the ideal way for a player to handle not wanting to sign?

I would like someone to explain to me why telling them so isnt it.

Its been happening for 50+ years with mostly positive results.

Its the people who dont say a word and then walk who leave franchises scrambling.

Lets us visit several...

And for now I will ignore those before unrestricted free agency started since those players technically couldnt walk without a judge being involved. late 70s 87 you could sign somewhere but the teams had to work out a compensation package or have the league do it for them. Which is why Moses Malone was "traded" to the 76ers when it was really a free agent signing. Lets stick to demands after somewhat modern CBAs kicked in.

I'll cover those I can remember with articles to refresh any I dont assume we all remember clearly"



Chris Paul:

[QUOTE]Chris Paul's agent has told the New Orleans Hornets that Paul will not sign a contract extension and wants to be traded to the New York Knicks, Yahoo! Sports has reported, citing league sources.

But Hornets general manager Dell Demps, who has heard several trade overtures for the All-Star point guard, wants to meet with Paul and hear that from him, once lockout-related restrictions on front office contact with players are lifted, according to the report.

Demps declined to meet with reporters on Thursday, but has said that his top priority is to work on an extension.[/QUOTE]

Of course he actually went to LA...after the basketball reasons situation im sure you dont need a refresher on.





Tmac:


[QUOTE]Tired of carrying a mediocre franchise, McGrady vowed to
exercise the opt-out clause in his contract that was to go into
effect at the end of next season. But Orlando did not want him to
leave without the team receiving compensation -- like O'Neal did
eight years ago.[/QUOTE]

He admitted he asked out:

[QUOTE]

Baron Davis supposedly told the Hornets he wouldnt come back which is how he was traded for Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis(burn).







Dwight Howard:



[QUOTE]Howard, in an interview with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, reiterated his demand for a trade request from Orlando and shot down an ESPN story that cited sources saying he accused the Magic of “blackmailing” him into signing away his right to enter free agency this summer:

“I never used the word blackmail in reference to any of my dealings with the Magic,” Howard said. “I never said that. It’s defamatory and it’s inaccurate. I know what blackmail means and any report that I used the term incorrectly is inaccurate.”

Howard met with new Magic general manager Rob Hennigan on Friday in Los Angeles, and said he told Hennigan of his desire to be traded. However, Howard insisted he was merely repeating a position he had made clear to Magic officials since waiving his ETO in March.

“This was not the first time [that I asked for trade],” Howard said. “I communicated this to [Magic president] Alex [Martins] and [former general manager] Otis [Smith] way before Friday that I wanted to be traded – months before this meeting with Rob Hennigan. That was all way before Stan [Van Gundy] got fired.”[/QUOTE]



Ended up moving for Vucevic and the pick that ended up Dario Saric and the resulting tank got them the pick that would be Victor Oladipo. They didnt keep them all but id say a sulking Dwight for another all star center, a lottery pick, and a rebuild that landed them the #2 pick isnt bad.



Carmelo you all remember. Got the Nuggets:

[QUOTE]Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, a 2014 first-round pick and the swap rights in 2016.[/QUOTE]

The 2016 Swap? Thats how the Nuggets got Jamal Murray at #7. That was supposed to be the Knicks pick.


Kyrie you remember. Cavs got nothing of note back since IT never got healthy. They could have told him he had 2 full years left then traded him this week but....whatever.



VC demanded out with 3 full years and an option year left:


[QUOTE]After months of biting his lip, Raptors guard Vince Carter says he wants out of Toronto. According to Thursday's Toronto Star, Carter has discussed his feelings with Raptors general manager Rob Babcock and first-year coach Sam Mitchell, saying "it's just time for me to look after me."

Carter, rumoured to be on the move since the end of last season, added he went public because he's frustrated Babcock hasn't moved quickly enough to send him elsewhere.

Babcock on Thursday told the Associated Press that Carter won't be moved. "He's under contract with our team," he said. "We expect him to fulfil all obligations of the contract."

Numerous reports over the summer claimed Carter was unhappy with the direction of the NBA team and with not being consulted in major Raptor decisions such as the hiring of Babcock and Mitchell.

Babcock acknowledged the trade demand is an "issue" for the franchise, but he said "it's not really an issue" because he's under contract. "Is it the ideal way going to camp? No," Babcock said. "But it's really not the nightmare that other people think it is."

Carter reportedly wants to go to an Eastern Conference team, ideally the New York Knicks, Miami Heat or Orlando Magic.

However, dealing Carter won't be easy, given the fact he has three years

uhhh....meltdown?

But ya I agree though.

Telling them over a year early is easily the best way to do it in terms of looking out for the franchise.

Anyone who says otherwise is foolish.

AD did the Pelicans a solid and in turn they acted childish and unprofessional and continue to do so.



I don't think guaranteed contracts should go away, but I do think players being locked into 5 year deals needs to go away. The players should just have player options every single year of their deals... but they should come at great financial cost.

So say something like... you get a player option every single year after your rookie deal on any contracts going forward... BUT you can only sign for like half annually on what you would for another team...

Or maybe... declining salary the more times you opt out in any given year...

There are plenty of ways to address it to minimize movement but all the "trade me" drama needs to just end. Just make it so players can opt out yearly and give them heavy financial incentives to remain where they are.

i think players have far too much control and the team that drafts a player should have their rights for as long as they're willing to extend them


whatever amount they're eligible for as long as the team matches it they keep that player


if they get upset and demand a trade the team has the right to keep paying them and basically sitting them for as long as they want. or the player can quit the nba/forfeit his contract and go to a different league to play basketball

Telling the team as early as possible and doing it privately, not publicly.

While also telling them your preferred teams list that you'd most likely sign with.

[QUOTE]uhhh....meltdown?

But ya I agree though.[/QUOTE]

Its...mostly quotes from articles from things many likely forgot. Quite a few of them said a lot more than Anthony Davis has. And I forgot one..

Shawn Kemp and Vin Baker both wanted out. Bucks got Terrell Brandon, Sonics got Vin Baker, and Cavs got Kemp.

One drank himself out of the league, one ate himself out, and one got injured but nobody really ended up any worse off.

Trade demands are really the best thing you can do once you know youre leaving. The earlier the better. With years left on your deal the team should get a solid haul.

The Raptors getting an injured/no kidney Zo as contract filler, Aaron Williams, and two non lottery first rounders for prime 27 year old VC with 3 years left was pretty awful....but thats just bad management.

You would get a whole new future for that under most situations.

[QUOTE]There are plenty of ways to address it to minimize movement but all the "trade me" drama needs to just end. Just make it so players can opt out yearly and give them heavy financial incentives to remain where they are.[/QUOTE]

Baron Davis said a few days ago hed take half the money to play in LA over NO. I dont know if he said it to them when he asked for the trade....but he did get traded to California for peanuts. He said NO isnt a basketball town. Plus...hes from LA.

Hes a bit of an exception im sure but no doubt a lot of guys would leave half the money on the table to get out.

Demanding a trade a year out is how most players have done it if they were in a nightmarish situation. Most players I believe have it in their heads that by the time free agency rolls around that they will leave (Shaq, KD, Lebron, among others).

AI had a love-hate relationship with Larry Brown and sometimes a player's attitude towards their franchise (Melo, Kawhi, Barkley, Jimmy Butler, Kareem too iirc) can practically force the front office's hands to move you in order to get rid of a headache.

I think the better question is: what is the [B]worst[/B] way to deal with it?

The worst way is to go on national television and say "I'm not going anywhere" (Dwight) and then leaving anyways.

Or to go on national television and make a spectacle out of you refusing to resign (Lebron)

Or to keep your franchise and teammates in the dark about your intentions until it's too late (KD)

Or finally to have your agent release the information to the public [B]before[/B] the front office can catch wind of it (AD)

The scenarios above are just asinine stunts to pull and is quite frankly unprofessional in my mind. It's like leaving your job without putting in your two week's notice. You'll never be able to list that job as a future reference that's for sure. And it's why when those players leave their loyalty is always in question.

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855]Baron Davis said a few days ago hed take half the money to play in LA over NO. I dont know if he said it to them when he asked for the trade....but he did get traded to California for peanuts. He said NO isnt a basketball town. Plus...hes from LA.

Hes a bit of an exception im sure but no doubt a lot of guys would leave half the money on the table to get out.[/QUOTE]

If you're literally willing to leave half of your salary on the table, then you shouldn't be forced to play in that situation anyways. Just my opinion.

The NBA has a lot of dogshit franchises that aren't really interested in being anything other than dogshit so long as they're making money.

They pretend like making money isn't the number one priority, but that's just pretend. They're pretending... SO that they can make more money... a lot of these franchises don't give a **** about winning.

The league has too many franchises period. And a ton of them are clueless dogshit. Forcing players that actually do care about winning into those situations just sucks.

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855]Baron Davis said a few days ago hed take half the money to play in LA over NO. I dont know if he said it to them when he asked for the trade....but he did get traded to California for peanuts. He said NO isnt a basketball town. Plus...hes from LA.

Hes a bit of an exception im sure but no doubt a lot of guys would leave half the money on the table to get out.[/QUOTE]

Well, yea, and this is where markets do matter.

Well run franchises matter more, but markets still matter and will continue to matter.

[QUOTE=kennethgriffen]i think players have far too much control and the team that drafts a player should have their rights for as long as they're willing to extend them


whatever amount they're eligible for as long as the team matches it they keep that player


if they get upset and demand a trade the team has the right to keep paying them and basically sitting them for as long as they want. or the player can quit the nba/forfeit his contract and go to a different league to play basketball[/QUOTE]



And that is how you get Curt Flood and Oscar Robertson trying to take you to the supreme court.

You should watch the NBA players testify to congress about it. There are some videos from the 70s showing how it worked out. The had some guys from the Hawks explaining the problems of your system. It was found to be an antitrust violation limiting competition. The law literally would not allow the NBA to merge with the ABA because it removed the only option players had to force competition. The lesser leagues were not deemed viable enough to avoid the conflict. It was pretty much deemed an anti competitive merger and blocked for 6 years.

The reserve clause will never be back in any major American sport. I think the MLS has it right now but they will beat it too. Those days are over.

The players do not have too much control.

Restricted free agency is team friendly and you basically get 5 years for sure out of a player...and most likely 7 total at least.

If you can't build a solid team or relationship around a player in 5 to 7 years...you don't deserve to keep them.

The Pelicans did a shit job overall by rushing the process (although they made some solid moves the last couple years) and the Cavs with Lebron probably couldn't have done worse during his first 7 years.

Teams have enough control....either do something to keep them or be prepared to lose them or trade them....and that is how it should be.

[QUOTE=Ben Simmons 25]If you're literally willing to leave half of your salary on the table, then you shouldn't be forced to play in that situation anyways. Just my opinion.[/QUOTE]


You get a lot of emotion involved when guys are trying to get home. Melo and Baron for example. Kareem too in the 70s. He originally wanted to go home to NY because of the much larger muslim population.

Its one reason the Raptors better hope they make a great playoff run. Leonard has two teams in his home area going all out for him.

If I had 100+ million already and I can play at home for 150 million more or elsewhere for 180? Eh....