How should a star leave town, if he's unhappy? if at all?

Where's CP3 style?

 

Nobody gets "forced" into a sign and trade. They only happen when the team knows for sure their guy is headed out the door. And even still they don't have to participate in facilitating his move.

In fact, the year Ron Artest went to the Lakers after leaving Houston Morey tried to work out a double sign and trade of Artest for Ariza (so we wouldn't have to use our MLE on Ariza) but the Lakers said "no thanks".

In regards to the Superstars of today, Bosh/Lebron were gonna leave anyway. Cleveland got 2 second rounders and a Trade Exception by sign-n-trading Lebron to MIA. That trade exception allowed them to pick up Baron Davis contract with the Clips #1 pick. That pick ended up being Kyrie Irving... Definitely not a bad way to jump-start the rebuilding process.

Most sign n trades are more like .15 cents on the dollar. Its just a mechanism for free agents to get the full-home team MAX contract even when the switch teams. In exchange, the team they are leaving usually gets cash or picks for their trouble. I think its a decent exchange.



And just for the record Orlando didn't really bottom out after Shaq. They were a perennial 7th/8th/9th seed. First with Penny and then with Darrel Armstrong and company. They cleared cap-space to get T-Mac and Grant Hill that one summer but they didn't have a terrible season til that year T-MAc clashed with their GM.

 

No Kobe style?

b**** at your team publicly, ask to get traded publicly.

Don't contact GM at all. It's literally the reverse of what happens these days, where the player has to find out from the media that he's traded

Gotta love Kobe