J.R. Smith was asked whether he wants to be traded. He said yes.
It was hardly a major revelation. The Cavaliers keep jerking him around, mostly and lately out of the rotation. There are many players around the league who want to be traded. Pick up a box score and look for DNP-CDs, and you’ll be well on your way to identifying most them.
But here comes the NBA examining whether it should overreach…
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
JR Smith was asked: "Are you hoping for a trade?" He responded, "Yeah." The NBA will examine if that constitutes a public trade request, which exposes him to a fine under the CBA. Eric Bledsoe was popped $10K for the "I don't wanna be here," tweet in Phoenix.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 1, 2018
Sometimes, players want to be traded. That’s OK! Many people would like to work for different employers.
And if a desire to be traded is acceptable, what’s wrong with talking about it?
The NBA already has rules for players not fulfilling their contracts. If players show up and do what they’re supposed to do while also wanting to be traded, why should that be punished?
By fining Eric Bledsoe and considering fining Smith, the NBA is incentivizing players to lie to the public that generates all this revenue for the league.
It’s why Jimmy Butler won’t confirm he requested a trade and instead dancing around the topic and leaking information to reporters willing to grant anonymity. Yet, we all know Butler wants to leave the Timberwolves. The league isn’t investigating the source of those leaks. The league doesn’t care. It’d care only if Butler told the truth on the record.
Fines like this accomplish nothing other than punish players for harmless remarks and treat fans as unworthy of learning more information directly from the people involved.
Does the NBA have the right under the Collective Bargaining Agreement to fine Smith? Yeah, probably. But the league could also frequently fine players for tampering and never does. The NBA has chosen to ignore that rule for players.
Trade requests ought to be handled similarly.