Photo by Markus Spiske via Uplash.

As the National Basketball Association slowly approaches the end of the regular season, a cataclysm has turned the world of American basketball upside down. Like every year, the winter transfer period brought its share of surprises. However, the controversy arose at the very beginning of February when the trade of Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis between the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers was announced. So controversial was this trade that it is already considered by many to be the biggest trade in modern NBA history. 

But why is the fate of two superstars so controversial? Well, the context in which the transaction took place and what it implies for both teams is simply huge. For those who don’t follow the NBA, this trade would be comparable to a transfer in the premier league between Virgil Van Dijk and Cole Palmer, or in  football terms,  like trading Jalen Hurts for Travis Kelce: two legends of their sport but with a significant age gap. As the world of the NBA is slowly recovering from this year’s chaotic trade season, what are some implications of the Doncic-Davis trade for the players, the franchises as well as the NBA as a whole.

The deal of the century for the Lakers? 

First of all, let’s break down the ins and outs of this trade, which appears to be nothing less than the steal of the century for the Lakers. Indeed, the 25-year-old guard was traded along with Maxi Kleber and Markiff Morris in exchange for 31-year-old center Anthony Davis, Max Christie and the Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick. While on the surface this transaction appears to be a fair and equitable swap of two superstars, it is a very profitable deal for the Los Angeles Lakers. Lebron James, one of the most accomplished player in the league, recently announced that he would be retiring within the next few seasons, which means one thing and one thing only for the Lakers: they’ve just acquired the new face of their franchise. 

This trade makes perfect sense for the California franchise, which is in the process of restructuring its team around Luka Doncic. The Dallas Mavericks on the other hand seem to be at a disadvantage by replacing the superstar who had taken them to the NBA Finals just a few months earlier. Sure, Anthony Davis is a terrific player, but he’s turning 32 in less than two weeks and is no longer in his prime. This trade is seen by many Dallas fans as outrageous, not least because no sports manager in his right mind would validate such an exchange. So how did this trade come about?

NBA: a cruel market?

Luka Doncic is a 25-year-old player originally from Slovenia who has been in the league for over 6 years and is rightly regarded by many basketball fans as a generational talent and MVP caliber player. No one had imagined the possibility of such a trade, and his superstar status seemed to give him a kind of immunity. Top players usually control their own destiny and have a voice in potential trade discussions. Unfortunately, this reasoning is not true in today’s NBA. The NBA has become a global brand and, like other major sports leagues, it tends to behave like a big business that seeks profit and publicity above all else. 

The organization’s revenues have increased enormously, as have the salaries of NBA players, which have quadrupled in around 25 years, reaching an average of 8.2 million dollars a year by 2021-2022. Some fans even argue that this exchange highlights the NBA’s effort to fuel a storyline that would make the game entertaining. However, in doing so, the players no longer seem to be what matters most. Although denied by Patrick Dumont, owner of the Mavericks, the rumor that the Dallas basketball franchise will soon be transferred to Las Vegas is still widespread and only adds to fans’ feelings about the true motivations of NBA owners. Something has gone fundamentally wrong  in the way the league is run.

Should the NBA change the rules?

The Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis swap has reignited a lively debate on the NBA’s rules governing player movements, raising some rather alarming questions about the league’s priorities. In a system where stability is rare, franchises can hardly build coherent teams. What makes this exchange even more troubling is that it is said to have taken place behind closed doors, with neither player apparently aware of the negotiations until the deal was finalized. 

Currently, only two NBA players have an official no-trade clause (Lebron James and Bradley Beal), leaving most athletes vulnerable to sudden moves. Some critics have even compared the NBA’s trade system to “modern-day slavery,” as Dennis Schröder once controversially described it. While it’s problematic to compare NBA trades to slavery, perhaps it’s time for the league to reconsider its policies and adopt a model similar to European soccer, where players have more control over their careers. Until then, transactions like these will continue to reshape the league, often at the expense of the players, indispensable to the league’s success. 

In the recently expanded NBA playoffs, 16 teams entered the tournament and 8 currently remain. Many analysts and fans alike have celebrated the parity of this year’s tournament as only the Phoenix Suns have truly separated themselves from every other team both in the regular season and in the playoffs in terms of a win-loss record. Bracket seeds were often only separated by three games or fewer.

After the opening round, there have already been some surprises, such as Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets being swept by the Boston Celtics, with Durant only shooting 38.6% overall from the floor and 33.3% on three-pointers. This is a major downgrade from his performance in the playoffs last year. Shawn Powell from NBA.com stated, “It was stunning to behold, and this is no disrespect to the Celtics’ defense, but Boston certainly didn’t show Durant something he never saw before. And so, since trading Steph Curry for Kyrie — has anyone heard a satisfactory reason why he did so? — Durant is ringless.”

The Dallas Mavericks began the playoffs with an injured Luka Doncic, but since his return after a three-game hiatus, he is averaging almost 30 points. Jalen Brunson stepped up in his absence and will likely be signed following the postseason as he has proved his worth as a free agent. The Mavs and their series against the favorite Phoenix Suns will continue to heat up as a winner is decided by the weekend. 

Many analysts have praised the confidence that the younger generations of NBA players have shown in some of their first playoff experiences. Powell stated, “There’s an understandable learning curve and amount of jitters that come with making your playoff debut, but you couldn’t tell that this year. A handful of young players, barely out of their teens, seemed right at home, in fact, in the heat of the postseason. In other words: There was no need for them to wear sunglasses because the lights were too bright.” He went on to specifically highlight Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies and Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves and how they’ve handled the spotlight. 

Despite a Lebron-less playoff, there are still some heavyweight MVPs that have proven that the path to the championship is far from easy. Steph Curry and Golden State, Joel Embiid and the 76ers, and Chris Paul and the Suns are all coming off MVP caliber seasons, only adding to the parity of this year’s playoffs.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum are currently going head to head in the conference semi-final round. Both are regarded highly for their playmaking abilities but Giannis is the defending champion and MVP. However, this has not distracted young star Tatum in his determination to get to the title. “[They’re the] defending champs, they’ve been there before, they’ve gotten the job done,” Tatum said of the Bucks. “Obviously, it’s going to be a great challenge. I’m just looking forward to it. It’s [going to] be fun,” Tatum said in an interview with NBA.com.

The conference semi-final round is shaping to wrap up by next week where only 4 teams will remain in the NBA 2022 playoff. 

As the 75th anniversary of the NBA kicks off and the leaves begin to change colors, fans across the nation dive into their passion for the game and the history of their teams. For Kansas City sports fans, many remember the time when the Sacramento Kings were actually the Kansas City Kings, and many questions their potential return.

Adam Silver, the current commissioner of the NBA, stated officially that the NBA is looking to expand to a total of 32 teams with the motivation being to make up for the financial losses accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of funding, they would likely take out a loan between $3 and 44 billion dollars. One city, Seattle, is already promising in the eyes of the NBA Administrative offices. Similar to Kansas City, Seattle also used to house their own NBA franchise: the Seattle Sonics. The Sonics moved to Oklahoma City in 2008, albeit much later than the move from Kansas City to Sacramento. 

However, infrastructure obstacles that have plagued the city’s attempting restructuring plans for years hold Kansas City back from being an obvious contender for a new team. Talks of Kauffman Stadium, where the Royals play, moving to the downtown area of the city have not yet left the corporate meeting rooms.

NBA Administrative Team President Andy Dolich uses a personal philosophy when deciding to add new teams: “The A is avidity: the market you’re picking has to be an avid sports market. The B is simple: Who is your billionaire? If you don’t have your billionaire, you don’t have anything. The C in the community: the elected officials, the leading businesses who are going to support you and the fan base. The D [destination] is where are you playing? The NBA is not playing in yesterday’s arena. Those are the four key parts.”. 

Despite Mayor Quinton Lucas’ advertising on his personal Twitter account, analysts at MSNBC say that offering an expansion team in Las Vegas is more appealing than the midwest. The NHL has added the Golden Knights and the NFL has moved the Raiders to their new stadium, with each achieving fan and financial success. 

However, what analysts believe is Vegas’s greatest strength is also its biggest weakness:  dependency on tourism. If Vegas were to ever take a dip in tourists, it would greatly affect the NBA as well. This gives Kansas City an edge in providing stability, as the T-Mobile center itself was built originally to house basketball games in its inception. 

Basketball fans in the Kansas City Metro area will need to keep their fingers crossed if they hope to be able to call a team their own one day. Until then, fans will have to make do with their Royals and Chiefs, which are both in good hands thanks to Patrick Mahomes.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t like sports or that I don’t appreciate any athletes’ work. I’m an athlete too. I know how it’s hard to be an athlete and all the things you have to give up to reach your goals. But I still don’t think that people should get paid millions of dollars for that. Have you ever noticed that they make so much money that at some point, it doesn’t even make a difference if they get more? Their lifestyles just can’t get any better.

And don’t even get me started on the difference between men’s and women’s wages. Take The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes. The first woman to show up is number 51, Serena Williams. Spoiler alert, she’s also the only woman on a list of 100 athletes. And, I don’t believe that the lack of female players on the list is just because they don’t try hard enough.

As an example of this, I can’t stop thinking about the U.S. women’s soccer team. In case you never heard about this fight, the U.S. women’s team was demanding payment equal to the men’s soccer team. They played much more, won many more times and even practiced more. But that didn’t mean anything for the U.S. Soccer Federation.

However, this is not my point. What really bothers me is how athletes, mostly men, are made out to be rock stars, the best of our society, the best you could ever be. You can get money and attention just by playing your favorite sport. I strongly disagree with this system.

No one should be put on a pedestal, and the ones that get the closest to deserving that type of glorification are the ones fighting for others and putting their lives at risk, like people who go to third-world countries to help dying children. People who actually help others should be getting credit for their work. No offense, but running around a ball or puck or whatever your favorite sport does is not that big of a deal.

Despite everything, I’m not that naive and I know that sports have become a market that sells. Players are not only athletes, their names become brands and anything that they touch can be charged 10 times more. But, honestly, this has just gotten out of hand. Society’s praise of public figures is unhealthy, and the way that many markets exploit it is wrong.

There’s at least one bright side to this devotion to sports. Many athletes pursue academic careers to continue playing or as a way to reach the professional level. In some ways, sports are a way to keep kids in school.

Overall, athletes are deserving of good payment because they work hard. But in my opinion, society should think about how much they should actually be paid, and that they are not actual gods.   

Photo courtesy of Finance News 24