Free agency 2019
The other situation that springs to mind when thinking about why Adam Silver saw fit to address the issue of tampering was how incredibly quickly so many of the 2019 class of free agents were happily signed with a new team.
According to Matt Ellentuck of SB Nation, in the first 8 hours after free agency opened in July, 48 contracts worth more than $3.175 million were agreed to. This made glaringly obvious the fact that although contract discussions were not supposed to have started until 6:00 p.m. ET on June 30, 2019, the rule was largely ignored.
Only five teams who were not part of the eight-hour free agency frenzy; the Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Lakers, (but with the acquisition of Anthony Davis they almost don’t count here) Atlanta Hawks, and Minnesota Timberwolves.
The fact is that free agents and their perspective teams have always had at least some conversation before the official start of free agency. That’s just how it is. But the sheer quantity of deals made in 2019 in so few hours really made it impossible for Adam Silver to look the other way. To me, there are a couple of main factors wherein the players and teams forced Silver’s hand.
Three of the biggest names in this year’s free agency were in that group of signees in the first eight hours and they all went to big market teams. We’re of course talking about Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant signing with the Brooklyn Nets and Klay Thompson signing with the Golden State Warriors.
Sure, KD and Klay were both injured at the time and Klay was likely to stay with the Warriors especially with the departure of Kevin Durant. But there’s no doubt that any smaller market team that had the cap space available would have at least wanted to make a pitch.
And sure, we all know that it’s beyond unlikely that any of those guys would have signed with any of those small-market teams. Obviously, their minds were made up long before the official start of free agency. But in a league with 30 teams, the majority of which are in smaller sports markets, at least the facade of equity needs to be maintained.
Secondly, this level of players and teams thumbing their noses at the league’s rules without consequences simply sets a terrible precedent. It was simply too much to be reasonably overlooked.
And let’s face it, longer free-agency deliberations are good for the league. By the time free agency starts, the season’s NBA champions have been crowned, the NBA Awards have been decided and the Draft is already over. I personally don’t consider the off-season to have started until the notable free agents have found homes. But once that happens, we enter a truly sluggish NBA period for the year where all there is to do is make way-too-early predictions for the next season.
The question though, is are the new rules going to be enough to make a meaningful difference, or is this measure meaningless posturing on the part of Adam Silver and the NBA Board of Governors?