Up until this year, championship teams have always been put together by general managers and team executives. But this is the first year that players are trying to do it themselves, while the executives dance around them tossing money as if it were confetti at a Kardashian wedding.
But if it were simply a matter of money, purely money, these three superstars would all stay put.
Unless there is a sign-and-trade deal like Bosh and his manager are trying to negotiate, the maximum contract a player can wrangle is from his current team.
If a player signs with another team, the most he can get is a five-year contract for $96 million. But if he stays put, he can sign a six-year deal worth an additional $29 million.
I don’t know how many of you would be willing to turn down $29 million just for staying put, but I wouldn’t.
So all this hype and maneuvering must be about something else.
Rings, that’s what this is all about. Of the three superstars only one, Dwayne Wade, has an NBA Title ring. Three superstars and just one ring between them.
Meanwhile, other players like Adam Morrison, D.J. Mbenga, and Josh Powell already have two rings. So do free agents Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown.
All of the aforementioned, of course, are players that the NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers consider expendable.
If you look at the Lakers, it is a team that Mitch Kupchak put together; with considerable monetary help from owner Dr. Jerry Buss and his family.
This wasn’t about several star players getting together to see if they could hijack an NBA Championship.
Yes, things did come to them like the Pau Gasol trade with the...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
