The Next Big Problem Facing The NBA

During the last CBA, the owners made a huge monetary value to keep superstar players from switching teams so often. They did this with the super-max deals, the only problem is that players are getting paid too much to care about these deals or they get insulted when they don't offered this deal. This has created the problem that players have more power than ever, that has made them request trades years left in their contracts.

Today's NBA players have more power than ever, partly thanks to LeBron James. In 2010, LeBron made the famous "Decision" to go to the Miami Heat. This is one of the most iconic moments in NBA history, and one of the most important. The Decision has given players more power than ever. It showed the league that the players can move around the league freely without fear of the fans not following them. Since this decision we see over and over how top players in the league are changing teams. Just this year alone we have seen LeBron James, Kwahi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler all change teams.

Originally we were seeing players change in the offseason, which eventually changed into players demanding a trade in the last year of their contract. Paul George had a year left in his contract and demanded to be traded to the Lakers, he said that is where he'll resign when the season was over. We all know how this story went, The Thunder took a chance and traded for him, then he resigned with them. However. it has now turned into players demanding a contract with two years left in their deals.

The growing problem in the NBA is that player are demanding a trade with multiple years left in their contracts. This season we have seen Anthony Davis do it, with two years left in his deal. Davis has almost forced his way out of New Orleans this year. New Orleans was put into this awkward situation where they didn't trade Davis before the deadline and now they have to figure out what to do with him. They can't play him because they want to make sure he's healthy and get the most out of him in any trade, but they can't sit him because the NBA will fine them $100,000 per game he sits. Anthony Davis is officially a distraction to the Pelicans. Anthony Davis has been removed from the team's hype videos, and no posts of him are made on their social media pages. Davis was benched in a close game against the Timberwolves because of "rest," The fans boo Davis and the team just obviously wants to send him home for the season. No one is happy in New Orleans now, with Davis wanting to play but New Orleans not wanting him to.

We've seen it last it year with Kwahi Leonard, where the Spurs didn't offer Leonard the super-max and he didn't trust the diagnosis of the team's doctors. Leonard basically quit basketball last year to get a trade, even though he had two years left in his deal. Kwahi sat most of the year, not even showing up to the arena for the playoffs. Leonard basically forced the Spurs to trade him to a new team entirely.

This era is the Players Empowerment Era where the players have more power than we've ever seen in the league's history. This issue is one that will keep growing and keep getting worst. The super-max made it where the players are getting more power than ever before because they can choose if they'd want to be the center piece or join up with another superstar player. This issue however needs to be resolved soon.

Currently the NBA has done little to nothing about these players requesting trades. The NBA fined Anthony Davis $50,000 for requesting a trade, but that's nothing compared to his $25 million contract. Slowly more and more players are requesting trades with multiple years left in their deals and it makes the league weird with Anthony Davis being the perfect example.

The League needs to fix this issue during this upcoming offseason before it blows up in their face. Adam Silver could prevent a huge issue on his plate if he goes after this issue before the media, fans, and players all give their opinion on this. If this issue continues to escalate we will see players soon asking for trades months after they sign multi-year deals. Players asking for trades with years left on their contract will become the next big issue in the league, if Adam Silver can see this before it becomes a bigger issue and fixes it he could avoid a huge headache that could come.