NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the media prior to All-Star Saturday Night in his annual state of the league press conference. As always, he touched on a number of topics, including the rising trend of non-playing agreements between teams and players.
Last season we saw the Oklahoma City Thunder send Al Horford home so that they could tank more effectively, while this season the Houston Rockets and John Wall decided that he would not play so the team could give more minutes to its young backcourt.
Unsurprisingly, Silver is not a fan of the arrangements:
Of course, I think it’s a problem when players are paid not to play. In some cases, that’s by mutual agreement with the team. Maybe the team is in a rebuilding situation that is focused on certain players. There’s a sense that (a) veteran player isn’t fitting in for whatever reason to the culture they’re trying to create.
It’s a hard line here because if it is truly by mutual agreement, I’m not sure the league office should be interfering. On the other hand, you have an aggregate hard cap, in essence, where 50 percent in our system is paid to the players. For every dollar that goes to a player that is not producing on the floor, that’s a dollar less that goes to a player that is performing. That shouldn’t be ideal for players or for teams.
While you can certainly understand why teams are doing things like this, Silver is correct. It’s just not an ideal situation for anyone involved. Players who are asked to sit out are put in a tough spot where they pretty much have to accept the team’s request, lest they become a distraction which could potentially make things harder for them down the line in their careers. Other players, then, may get frustrated seeing someone make significantly more money than them just to stay in shape. Furthermore, fans don’t get to see guys like Wall on the court.
But as Silver mentioned, it’s hard to see how the league would even get involved without creating bigger problems. The commissioner’s office cannot punish team for lineup decisions, nor can they mandate who should play and for how many minutes.
Outside of this becoming such an extensive practice that it’s affecting the competitive balance of the league, everyone is just going to have to shake their heads and move on.
