The Anthony Davis trade saga led to debate about the amount of power possessed by basketball players. Davis went against the NBA’s rulebook by openly asking a trade — something that led to a fine — then saw his playing time get closely managed by the New Orleans Pelicans with the hopes of keeping his trade value high. Eventually, Davis ended up going to one of his preferred destinations, the Los Angeles Lakers.
All of this leads to a single question: Is a basketball player doing this a good or a bad thing for the league? Davis, to his credit, wasn’t trying to make some grandiose statement about player empowerment. He was introduced to the media by his new squad on Saturday afternoon, and while there, said he just wanted to do something to take control of his career.
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Davis, regardless of his intentions, is at the center of this discussion, because while everyone agrees players should have the ability to do what they want, some detractors would question whether or not they can go too far. Whether it’s Davis or, say, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George getting the latter out of Oklahoma City via a trade request, we’ve gotten plenty of evidence this summer that players are more powerful than ever before, and they know it.
Perhaps the league will try to correct this with the next CBA under the guise of “doing right by the fans,” when really, it’s about bottom lines and the team having control over players. Or perhaps this is a road from which we can never turn back, and after years of teams being in complete control, players have decided that’s not going to fly anymore.
