Tommy Craggs:
The owners’ bullshit fear was further stoked by the bullshit specter of Chris Paul strong-arming his way to a perennially successful franchise of his choosing. This is bullshit because the NBA owners created their own bogeyman. Their bullshit lockout of 1998-99 was about controlling maximum salaries, which kept star players from getting paid their full value. Once bullshit max contracts were the rule, the less appealing franchises couldn’t spend extra to attract or retain players, leaving Cleveland to compete with Miami head to head, as a destination. This encouraged stars to make decisions for more than money. If LeBron James or Chris Paul is going to get roughly the same deal wherever he goes, why not go to a city he likes where he can play basketball with talented friends and win a lot of games?
On the other hand, Vishnu Parasuraman argues that the NBA made the right decision, but offered the wrong justification:
How much money were the Hornets planning to spend in the Chris Paul trade? $67,073,369. That is a lot to spend to become last year’s Rockets plus Lamar Odom. … [The NBA] should have simply made the case that financially, the Hornets were spending more than $60 million, the other 29 owners are responsible for paying that bill, and they have every right to vote on that trade.
