In the bubble I live in, Ben Simmons scoring a career-high 42 points and coming an assist shy of a triple double last night, is the only major NBA storyline that matters. But outside of my Process bubble, some big names could be on the move soon.
Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin are DONE with their respective teams until the Cavs and the Pistons can find trade partners for the two players. These two veterans are effectively benched until the team can find a suitor. So to recap, the team decided said players were done playing for the franchise, and that was that. But if a players says they are done playing for the team, it is open season on the player. Draymond Green took notice:
Draymond calls out the NBA's double standard for players who request a trade vs. teams who sit a player in order to trade them pic.twitter.com/nKcbKvA2MM
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) February 16, 2021
Draymond Green is getting to the point he has a flair of the late John Chaney in him. He goes on these rants where you have no clue how you got on the topic in the first place, but by the end you say to yourself, “you know, this guy has a point”.
And Draymond does have a point with this one. The player is always crucified for being upset with their current work environment, but teams can move on from them with free rein. It’s all about “honor the contract” until your NBA front office rips it up in front of your face because they found a trade partner to unload the deal THEY gave you, but no longer wanted to pay you. Or, ship you off to another team as part of a package deal because they found some asset who was better than you.
Draymond is right, the process is hypocritical. It extends beyond the NBA to professional sports in general. The front office plays hero, while the player gets vilified.
