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Let’s Make a Deal: How Pre-agency Changed the NBA

It’s the evening of July 8, 2010. Although the traditional summer festivities would bring millions of Americans together outside to enjoy the warm weather and good company, that’s not the case on this night. It’s a Thursday in July, and millions of people around the world, 13.1 million to be exact, gathered around their televisions to see 25-year-old athlete and sportscaster Jim Gray have a conversation. The Decision, as it’s been so effortlessly named. On this night, Gray and NBA superstar LeBron James met at a Boys and Girls Club in Greenwich, Conn. to announce the next destination in James’ career. As James uttered the now famous phrase “I’m going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat,” the landscape of the NBA was forever changed.

At the time, this was a completely unprecedented move for a player to have such a public announcement of where their next destination would be. Sure, there have been instances like Karl Malone and Gary Payton in 2004 teaming up to join the Los Angeles Lakers in hopes of winning a title. There was also the time that Michael Jordan came out of retirement for the second time to join the Washington Wizards, which was an absolute shock to a lot of people who were fans of the sport. But nothing so public and highly covered had ever been done in the NBA. It was must see T.V. By telling the whole world where he intended on going, by some reports even before he had told his former team, the Cavaliers, LeBron made it about the player and not the team.

Well, it’s been eight years since then, and LeBron has moved teams twice by going back to Cleveland in 2014 and just last summer joining the Lakers. But what team LeBron is on isn’t as important as the idea he left behind with his initial move. This idea of pre-agency, a term some have coined to describe the planning that some players in the NBA go through to decide which team they’re going to join next, before they’ve actually become eligible to move. Since LeBron’s second go around with the Cavaliers, this has become a trend.

Summer 2016: After much speculation, Kevin Durant decides to leave his home in Oklahoma City and join the Golden State Warriors. This was a move that also shocked a lot of people. If it weren’t for the Warriors losing the NBA finals and the subsequent call from Draymond Green, he might have never left the Thunder. It has been reported that before Green had even left the arena following their finals loss in 2016, he was already in the process of getting Durant to join the Warriors. Since then, the Warriors have won two NBA championships and are now working on their third straight.

In the eyes of many NBA fans, Durant’s move has made the league worse as a whole because of the lack of parity it has produced. To be fair, essentially knowing who’s in the finals before the season even starts is kind of a drag as someone who loves watching basketball. But, I would argue that it’s made the league even better for one main reason: the players call the shots. This has given players a whole new freedom to be able to go to the location that they think is best, or in some cases, any place other than the one they are in. This has helped the league to become more interesting game-to-game in my opinion. With Kawhi Leonard on the Raptors and Jimmy Butler on the Sixers, a normal Wednesday night game in December turns into must-watch television. Durant’s move to Golden State wasn’t a death sentence to the league, it gave life to a whole new NBA.

Speaking of Kawhi, let me give you a few examples of situations that have become better off since their marquee player forced their way out.

Kawhi to Toronto:

This is one of the few trades that seems to really benefit both parties involved. Even though the Raptors are essentially renting Kawhi for a year seeing as even he probably doesn’t know where he will be in a year, they have made themselves a legitimate destination. That would have been an absolute fallacy if Toronto was to have tried to poach him in the free agent market come next summer. Not only did they acquire an all-star in Kawhi, they also got a starting two guard in Danny Green. Green has started all 26 games he’s played in this season and has been a consistent third scoring option from the wing, something DeRozan has always struggled at doing. For the Spurs, getting rid of the headache that was Kawhi last season might be the most important part of the whole deal. They essentially swap Kawhi for another perennial all-star in DeRozan, and although he isn’t as complete of a player as Kawhi, he’s a consistent world class scorer. DeRozan leads the team in scoring this season and is under contract for at least two more seasons, with a third coming under a player option in 2020-21. Throw in an extremely efficient and young talent in Jakob Poeltl and a first round pick next year, the Spurs will surely call that a win.

Paul George to Oklahoma City:

Another trade that worked out pretty well for both parties was the trade that sent the then 4x all-star unexpectedly to Oklahoma City. On the day that it happened, it sent confusion swirling around the league. It was a total shock that he ended up going there and the Pacers looked like they totally folded by taking what the Thunder offered. George was set on going to the Lakers summer of 2018, so the move to Oklahoma looked like a total waste of assets to most around the league. But, thanks to the coaxing of Russell Westbrook, George was convinced to stay and signed a four year contract before the start of this season. However, you could make a strong argument that the Pacers got the better of this deal as Victor Oladipo and Damontas Sabonis have turned out to be terrific players. Oladipo really turned around his career last season in Indiana racking up the accolades. Oladipo was not only an all-star for the first time, but also brought home the most improved player award as well as third team All-NBA and first team all-defense. Sabonis has been a solid option for the Pacers off the bench since the trade and has been improving greatly over the last two years. Through 23 games this season Sabonis is averaging 14.3 point per game and 10.1 rebounds per game in just 24.9 minutes per game.

Jimmy Butler to Philadelphia:

Lastly, we have what could be the case of the most aggressive trade demand in league history. Just one year after being traded from the Bulls to Minnesota, Jimmy Butler decided he was no longer happy being a Timberwolf. He issued a very public trade demand in the summer leading up to this season and as the season approach and no trade had been done, Butler became somewhat of a malcontent. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski shared some of this in a story he did on Butler following the famous practice tirade.

Butler was vociferous and intense throughout the scrimmages, targeting president of basketball operations and coach Tom Thibodeau, general manager Scott Layden and teammates, including Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, league sources said.

As the GM watched on the sidelines during a scrimmage, sources said that Butler yelled to Layden: “You f—ing need me, Scott. You can’t win without me.” It was Butler’s first practice with the team since requesting a trade three weeks ago.

The parting of ways between the Timberwolves and Butler was a necessary change and resulted in both teams getting a little better. For the Sixers, they add a proven scorer and leader to a young but very talented team. Something the Sixers have been lacking is a proven scoring threat behind star center Joel Embiid. Point guard Ben Simmons has the utmost potential but has been more than reluctant to take shots from long range. He’s attempted only 11 shots from beyond the arc and has yet to make one in his career. Butler fills that void which allows Embiid to shoulder less of the load, an important improvement for the Sixers given Embiid’s past injuries. As long as Philly can find a way to retain Butler over the long-run, this team can continue to be a challenger for the eastern conference title.

For the Timberwolves, it’s definitely a case of addition by subtraction. At times last year, they were a really good team, climbing as high as third in the western conference for a period of time. However, they might be a more complete team without the one-man-band that was Jimmy Butler. They add an elite wing defender and scorer in Robert Covington who’s fresh off a first team all-defense selection last season. Although Covington isn’t quite the scorer Butler is, he’s a welcome addition and is third on the team in scoring since joining the team. Add Dario Saric, who’s a great off the bench scoring option, and a second round pick in 2022, and you’ve got a deal that made both teams better moving forward.

You could make the case almost every team has a star on their squad, which makes the NBA feel legitimately interesting for the first time in several years. The Thunder top the western conference with PG and Russ, the Nuggets look like a greatly improved team with a lot of young talent on the roster, the Lakers seem to have been reborn with LeBron coming to L.A. in this offseason. In the East you have a wonderfully entertaining five team battle between the Raptors, Pacers, Sixers, Bucks, and Celtics to decide who takes over as the new king of the East.

Since the Cavaliers are sitting at the bottom of the eastern conference and without the greatest player of the last two decades, it’s probably safe to say we won’t be seeing yet another Warriors vs. Cavs rematch. That opens up the possibility of a newcomer, some new blood. Teams feel like they have a chance, which improves everything from the play on the court to the hunger to get deals done in the front office. Ultimately, the whole of the NBA just gets better. Who doesn’t love that? It’s refreshing that come April and May we can make way for actual debate and speculation yet again as to who will make it to the finals in June. I say, bring on the drama.

In an interview from 2017, basketball icon and legend Michael Jordan spoke about how the two team monopoly of the NBA was bad for business. Jordan said, “You’re going to have one or two teams that are going to be great, and another 28 teams that are going to be garbage.”

This year’s NBA is certainly not garbage.


Twitter: @dren_sports