Strictly in terms of basketball, KPJ would not have been a bad option for the backup PG/wing spot until Thompson and Whitmore were ready for more minutes. Anyways, the Rockets gave him an opportunity maybe no other NBA team would have, and he royally messed it up. I hope he makes whatever amends he needs to, and the rest of his life goes better.
How is the NBAPA going to fight it as discipline for an arrest against Houston but not against OKC? Once again Feigen is just making things up. The CBA doesn't work that way. The NBAPA could fight literally anything - cutting a player, benching a player, being mean to a player in a film session etc. But their chances of success are extremely low and effectively 0. There's no special carve out for domestic abusers. It's not Feigens job to play defense for the Rockets. As many others have stated waiving KPJ is absolutely on the table, which is why OKC is doing it.
Oladipo is better on D and worse on O. With the team looking as deep as it is, it gives us a lot of options. Curious who stays on the roster.
Here's another what if. What if we're supposed to rehab Oladipo and get him prepped for a potential reunion with Frank Vogel after the Allstar break? I could definitely see that as a possibility. Oladipo for Grayson Allen would be good for both teams.
By what precedent? Name one case of a player that successfully argued that he couldn't be waived and paid out his guarantee after an arrest. All these fake pretend CBA lawyers and Feigen are wrong - the interpretation that Woj and Bobby Marks and others (and even Feigen himself, the second time he write about it) have is the correct one Any player can be waived at any time, there is no special privilege for domestic abusers. That is total bullshit. Saying a player can protest under the CBA is a cop out. Players can file a grievance for literally anything. That doesn't mean teams can't ever do anything. Actually I'll go one further - if you pretend by Feigen legal logic that waiving KPJ ( which is permitted) is a bad faith violation of the CBA for discipline for an arrest - why wouldn't trading him to a team that has expressly said they will waive him operate as the same thing? Under this theory of "implied absolute protection against waiver" for abusers, why wouldn't it apply to trades, or trades plus waivers? NBPA could challenge under CBA, per Feigen Esq., right?
Who cares? Why even risk finding out or even going through that possible circus? We get back an EC in Dipo and a potentially usable backup big in JRE while offloading a cancerous player.
I don't think there's precedent, but I do think the NBA set the tone when Adam Silver had a presser and said "the investigation will take time". To me that was a clear warning for the Rockets not do take action. As for why OKC can do it - I got nothing. My assumption is they can just flat out say they acquired him for the ability to waive him - guilty or not - where it's clear that the only motivation the Rockets would have to waive him is punishment. Is that convoluted, yes. I don't think the league office should have a say on how teams discipline players, short of anything actually illegal or unethical.
Where did this nonsense about waiving a player being some sort of disciple come from? It's never been a thing, is not currently a thing, and will never be a thing. Denver could waive Jokic tomorrow and there would be no issues what so ever, pay him his contract and waive him.
[ Sorry but you are reading too much into it The commissioner is on the side of the owners - they pay him - he is management, not labor. Like when a commissioner takes action against a team or an owner - > he's doing it on behalf of other owners and teams. There is no way he could expressly or implicitly forbid the Rockets from waiving KPJ, it would be basically like the NBPA requesting the Rockets suspend KPJ without pay. That's not the side they're on. This whole thing is no different than Josh Primo who was waived for conduct reasons despite no arrest. It's a thing you can do if you want.
