Player GMs

A different kind of Player GM

 A few thoughts as we are on the cusp of an NBA trade deadline.

Ben Simmons quit on the Sixers. James Harden quit on the Nets. (After quitting on Houston.) LeBron James quit on the Cavs and Heat. Kevin Garnett quit on the Wolves, Shaquille O’Neal quit on the Magic, Charles Barkley quit on the Sixers, and yeah. Let’s talk about the trend.

The old-school fan in me wants to rage at these guys, talk about how bad teammates who are not committed to improving themselves or their franchises are grifters, worthless, doomed to fail.

Here’s the problem with that narrative. It has no basis in reality. See the earlier paragraph and count the rings on, well, half of the guys who quit on a team.

In an era and league where players have relatively long careers and massive individual impact on championships, teams have less control over their fates than ever before.

Is this fair, or right, or something you’d design for in a perfect world? Hell and no. It’s also not something that always works out in reality. It’s not as if Milwaukee seems like the kind of place to get a ring, attract free agents, etc., and yet that’s the guys holding the crown, and as I check the standings right now, they sit at second in the East. In the West, it’s Phoenix with the endless Chris Paul doing his usual magic before getting hurt in the playoffs. Charlie Brown with the football has nothing on Point God fans.

But there are many routes to a flag, and flags fly forever. If you do it with your home-grown young guys that you’ve watched grow up (and yes, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid make what is otherwise a painfully slow-and-dough Sixers team fun), that’s The Most Fun. But flags are flags, people. If your team is the one celebrating a win at the end of all meaningful games, the fact that you did it with mercenaries just Does Not Matter. Malcolm Jenkins came and went to the Eagles, got a ring, and we’re going to just like him forever because hey, ring.

So if any of these hybrid player-execs isn’t on your team, or refuses to play for it? Hate them all you like. They are everything you should hate in modern sports, which is an era in which everyone dreams of being a shadowy executive rather than someone good at sports.

But also know this – some of this is just players wanting to win more than anything, more than their personal reputation, more than their future legacy with a half dozen teams on their call sheet.

And if you were them… are you so certain that you would not do the same?

And have you ever left a job to go work for someone with a better chance at winning?