Austin Rivers says star players’ trade demands to specific teams ‘bad for the league’

Austin Rivers is quick to say he loves Damian Lillard’s game. On his Podcast “Off Guard” with The Ringer, Rivers calls Lillard one of the hardest players to guard he has faced.

What he doesn’t like is Lillard’s trade demand to a specific team, the Miami Heat. Same with James Harden’s trade demand trying to get to the Los Angeles Clippers this summer. Rivers didn’t hold back on his podcast, saying he is not a fan of stars demanding trades like this.

“Regardless of how good you are as a player, the NBA is not, it’s a privilege. If you’re a free agent you can choose where you were gonna go, that’s the business. But when you’re not and you sign a deal, that’s part of the business. If you get traded somewhere, you got to go play...

Here are a few quick thoughts:

• Kareem Abudul-Jabbar forced his way out of Milwaukee to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975 — stars demanding trades to specific destinations is far from new in the NBA. If you want to argue that it is far more common now in a player empowerment era you would not be wrong, but to suggest this is a new phenomenon misses the mark.

• Teams can trade a player under contract against his wishes to wherever they want at any point. So it’s okay for guys in suits to treat players like property but not for players who have leverage to use it to create opportunities they want? Teams are under no obligation to show loyalty to players — “it’s a business” — so why should players be expected to show that loyalty to teams?

• This is about leverage — only star players can make these demands. A role player like Rivers — who remains a free agent heading into next season — could never pull off such a move. It’s the reality that the “player empowerment” era is really a “star empowerment” era.

• Plenty of fans will read and agree with what Rivers said, but their actions speak differently. Nothing around the NBA draws fan interest like transactions, and especially star trades/moves. It’s not even close, this is a transaction-driven league now in terms of engagement. Fans can say they hate player trade demands like this but there is a reason every media outlet (this one included) updates seemingly every rumor about Lillard’s and Harden’s status — you all read it. By their actions, fans show what they love.

That said, it is very American to say you hate something and then follow every second of it with rapt attention.