It's always been like this. The difference is now FOs have gotten smarter and there's a salary cap in place. Bird, Magic would have done the same thing if they didn't play on stacked teams. Hell Kareem forced a trade to the Lakers in the 1970s. Jordan played GM in the 1990s. This is nothing new in sports. It just seems like it because the internet and having several dedicated networks/news outlets on TV to sports means free agency talks go on year round.
That's not my argument. People do come to see the players. What you are saying is from the fans' perspective. But from the financial reality, the players need the owners more than the other way around. (And owners' careers are usually much longer than players'.) What I'm talking about is that if the current players wanted to have total control of how the team is run, they could just own the team or start their own league. But they can't because they just don't have what it takes to run a world class league. So they have no choice but to work for the owner, unionize, and bargain for an agreement that would maximize their gain. This is true in almost any industry. If you want total control, you start your own business.
Players starting their own league was one of Kyrie's best ideas. Not exactly his idea, but one he agreed with. It would obviously not be up to the standards of the NBA, the profits, if there are any, would not be comparable, but it would be their's and eventually it would approach the standards and profits of any professional league.
Isn't this basically the Big3 of which our own Clyde the Glide is commish? Who owns/runs that thing? Does anybody watch that, buy tickets or merch ..? I know I've never watched a single second Hell I don't even know when or where they play games
No, that's what i'm disagreeing with, that the players need the owners more. I don't think so, there simply is no NBA without stars, the league was close to not existing until Magic and Bird came and then Jordan took it to another level of popularity. Stars drive entertainment companies and if you have none you fall into irrelevance. I think we see this reality play out in every situation like this, the star makes the decisions. Guys like Harden, Lebron, Durant, etc, these dudes could get anyone on the team fired, hired, whatever, with a word. They can control what gets put in the lockeroom (why don't we have a playstation 5 back here!?!) to even getting fans thrown out of stadiums because they were offended, like superstar players completely run the team. If they were so invalued Owners would just easily part with them and give them no power but they do all they can to appease them because they know without that guy people don't show up to the stadium and their team falls into irrelevancy. It's also a complete guess that stars couldn't run a league or that there couldn't be a player run league because it's never been done. I think it could be done, after all, they could hire people to handle finances and things they are not experts at. It just simply hasn't been done and it's an assumption to say they are incapable of doing that. Some of these star players like Jordan, for example, or Lebron, or Kobe before he died, turn out to be pretty damn successful entrepreneurs. There really is nothing there to say they can't do it, it just takes a lot of effort to do it versus sticking with the status quo. If all the NBA All-stars decided to start their own league who knows if it would be successful, lots of variables there sure, but I do know the NBA would be in shambles. At the end of the day though, there is a reason the NBA is one of the most popular leagues in the world and it's not because of Jerry Buss or Mark Cuban or Leslie Alexander. It's because of Iverson, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Kobe, Shaq, and all these guys people come to see. There is a reason people in Europe watch the NBA over their own leagues just like there is a reason people watch EPL over the MLS. Stars. You see this with other sports too, sports will rise and fall in popularity based on the star power they currently have. Golf has Tiger? People watch. Baseball had Sosa, Bonds, McGwire, juiced up dudes clanging HRs and breaking records, people watch. People come to see brilliance, not just competent play, but brilliance and extreme skill. They come to see 360 dunks, dudes swishing shots from half court, crossovers, vicious blocks, etc etc you don't get that if you just remove all of the all-stars from the NBA. You'd just get NCAA ball or Gleague ball and anyone that watches that knows its not half as exciting as NBA basketball.
It would be a rough start, but it could be done. It'll likely never be done because they know it's not easy, it's easier to just stick with what the NBA is doing and unless the NBA starts going off the rails like adding a 4 point shot, drastically changing things for no reason, they have no reason to start a new league... Big 3 just doesn't have star players, most of the guys playing there are NBA bench players. It's a curiosity, for now. If it had bigger retired names more people would play but the problem with the big 3 is these guys are retired or out of the league for a reason. They aren't exciting to watch anymore and just not as good as they used to be.
Big 3 would need a superstar to leave the NBA which...like why would you do that? Especially when there's the Euroleague and China still possible. Look what Marbury did or even fringe guys like Rudy Fernandez (I still thought Kobe should/would have signed in Italy for a year to play for his Dad's old team).
Again, I think we are arguing about different things. No doubt the stars is why the league is popular. But it's the league that gives them the stage to be stars. Think about this. If the league folded today, who would suffer more, the owners or the players? The owners would still be billionaires. They would go do other business. What would the players do without the league? They either go start a much watered down league themselves or go to Europe or China to play for inferior leagues and make much less money. Now imagine a league where players controlled everything. They could go play for any team any time they wanted. Or a few players controlled who played where. What would that kind of league look like. It would look like a pick up games park.
Big 3 really is just some random thing to watch on a Saturday really. I think they should not focus on retired players or out of the league guys and just make it more a streetball thing. Probably would be more interesting that way I think.
For sure. July and most of August is kind of a dead time for sports (little league world series anyone?). Run it in the summer with some retired guys, maybe some globetrotters or dudes on the streetball circuit.
Yeah, the owners would have more money but if the NBA folded I think you'd just see exactly that, they'd go to Europe, someone else might try to start a league here, maybe some of the players, but if they went to Europe then the European leagues would over time become as big as the NBA was. The fans will follow the stars, not the owners. The stage is only there because of the star players though. I guess I mean in a basketball sense, this doesn't exist without the star players. They generate the revenue so I'm not mad they get to choose where they go. I don't think it would be a pick up game, they could just have the same rules and have coaches. I don't think the game has to change much at all other than who owns the teams. Maybe it'd work more like individual sports? Where there are annual tournaments and teams can sign up to the tourneys, I guess my point is though I don't think its impossible for the players to start their own thing. It'd be harder, 100%, they have a great thing with the NBA. It's growing globally, the talent pool then is now the world, in essence they should never run out of stars. These old crop will be gone in 3-5 years, Lebron, Durant, Harden, Curry, and replaced with Doncic, Morant, Tatum, Green (hopefully...), etc etc I will say that the one thing Stern and Silver have done that helped was focus on the global market and growing the sport grassroots style throughout the world. It has quickly become the 3rd (might be 2nd, Cricket is up there lol) team sport and its growth is not stopping. Their final challenge is to make some kind of international Champions League type of tourney to go to another level but that's another topic. I'm not downplaying the impact owners have, I know they play a role in its success but I guess my main thing is none of this happens without guys like Jordan and Shaq and all the personalities. Without them, the NBA and basketball as a whole probably dies in the early 1900s or just becomes some minor odd curiosity and maybe we are talking about Rugy or Cricket or something.
Yeah, its WAAAY too formal. If I were them I'd open it up to streetball players, globetrotters sure, youtubers, retired players, do the shows on those courts like Rucker and parks all over the nation (or world), have performances there, have fun with it.
Yeah for sure. Seems more like guys trying to relieve glory days which...respect but, come on. Also, IDK how it would work with NIL and rules about extracurriculars, but you could get maybe some college guys there too. They'd play for free but earn exposure and be paid "brand ambassadors". Idk if that voids their scholarships because of injury but that be pretty cool. Especially for players who know they may not make the NBA but want to fool around.
what? The only thing he did well was collude to get the heat together after he burnt down the cavs by misleading them. There is not a single active player that should be doing anything other than recruiting for the front office.
To be fair, I recall him trying to recruit Chris Paul and wanting to leave after the Cavs wouldn't give up hickson for amare.
I don't disagree with most of what you say. My point is that the league (owners) provide the stage and structure for meaningful competition. Jordon is the only player who owns a team. LeBron probably will own a team some day. But they do that long after their playing days are done. So they are no different than any other non-player owners. I believe that a league where players make the most important decisions would not be a good league because players don't think long terms. To put it more bluntly, players are necessarily selfish. Most of the times, they think what they want now and not what is good for the team/league long term. I don't blame them because they only have a relatively short career which can end anytime they get a serious injury. But this is exactly why they should not make team/league decisions.
The Heat has not really been contenders since Lebron has been gone so they are not an example of doing the right thing. Lebron has won 2 rings since he left and the Heat have not been to the finals.
It would be nothing like the Big 3 but even then the Big 3 has been a success because it's still going and has a TV contract. Just because you don't watch it does not make it nonsuccess. Ice Cube is one of the owners of the Big 3. I watch it some of the games can be very compelling.
