Is the American Basketball Association colluding with point guard Dennis Schroeder? The short answer is no, maybe not, but this is a problem that has appeared in the last few days, and it will not disappear until his contract problem is resolved.
Article 14 of the NBA collective bargaining agreement is an anti-collusion clause of the NBA, which prohibits two or more teams from colluding in a way that harms the financial interests of players. In theory, if multiple teams in the league agree not to sign Schroder for reasons we already know or don’t know, this would violate the NBA’s own rules. National law, and Federal Act Because it restricts the free market and hinders competition. This is a big deal, As we saw in the NFL colluding to end Colin Kaepernick’s career.
Article XIV directly addresses the issue of collusion like any alliance’s charter or management agreement:
“…No NBA team, its employees or agents will enter into any express or implied contract, combination or conspiracy with the NBA or any other NBA team, its employees or agents: (a) With any veteran or rookie (B) To submit or not to submit a quotation to any restricted free agent; (c) To provide or not to provide a player contract to any free agent; (d) To exercise or not to exercise the right of first refusal; (e) Regarding to any veteran Or the employment terms or conditions provided by the rookie.”
The goal of Article X!V is simple: to cause financial losses to the players through the team that colluded with him. This obviously includes two or more NBA teams conspiring not to offer contracts to specific players. Tacit collusion is a legal term in which there is a tacit understanding and consent to collude. This is a form of collusion in professional sports, because no team will document or document collusion in writing. To be honest, this is no different from the acquiescence of oil-producing countries to fix prices, and this is what might happen here.
Michael EpsteinInjury lawyers and super NBA fans in New Jersey remind us of the seriousness of collusion.
“Collusion can be a very serious matter, especially in the context of professional sports leagues, which are designed to operate as an open and free market for professional services for athletes. The legal threshold for proving any team-player collusion in any league will be Very high,” he pointed out.
Let us briefly review the best facts we have today.
According to reports, as early as February, Schroder rejected a four-year, $84 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers. This confuses the Lakers, and definitely makes them feel uneasy-honestly, the Lakers have a sense of mystery, it is not a team that likes to be blamed by anyone. This even led to the Lakers super legend, Magic Johnson, Openly tear up Schroeder after the season, Calling him “not the material of the Lakers.”
Then, when this year’s free agency period starts on Monday night, This is really an unusual feeding frenzy, Many top players were sold out within a few hours. But not Schroeder.
So who is Schroeder and why would any team collude against him?
Schroeder has been playing in the league for eight years, but he is only 27 years old. He has not even been in the golden age of his career. Although he is not pursuing superstars, his best case is that under the right circumstances, he is a useful starting guard, or may be a candidate for the sixth man of the year. During his season with the Lakers, he averaged 32 minutes per game and 15.4 points per game. In Atlanta four years ago, he averaged more than 19 points per game, including nearly 25 in the playoffs.
Ah, the playoffs. It is undeniable that Schroder’s playoff performance this season is very bad, but the same is true for the entire Lakers.Relatively few people pay attention to He was diagnosed with COVID-19 at the end of the season And it never seemed to fully recover.But by the time he was diagnosed, the bad blood of Los Angeles was a foregone conclusion. Perhaps his fate was already doomed. The ancientization of Huxiu.
Watch his YouTube channel Showed us a unique perspective on professional athletes. Just returned to North America from Berlin last year, I can follow many of his videos (they are in German, usually without subtitles), and the impression left to you is like a very relaxed young man enjoying his family and close friends, some of them People work for him as assistants. No, you will not leave an image of an NBA player trained at the highest level, but this is often the case when athletes choose to show their personal side through social media.
So, without collusion, how can a player who won a 4-year $84 million contract renewal become absolutely zero from there? What are we missing?
That’s the problem. We currently don’t know, and we don’t have enough touch points to piece things together. For the NBA, the best-case scenario is that this is a player who sets himself out of the market.He did not perform well at the end of the year, his shooting was not particularly good, and Significant break-in with an NBA superstar This is not particularly attractive to him.
But we also saw players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Signed for five years at $172 million this weekThis put Schroder’s self-assessment between four years and 100 million US dollars to 120 million US dollars. Of course, the Lakers’ initial offer was four years and 84 million US dollars, which is quite realistic.
Let’s keep one thing clear about the NBA And any professional sports league: Collusion is not beyond their scope. The NBA has previously been accused of collusionAnd given the legal and practical nature of collusion, it is difficult to find evidence to support the claim. But as each day passes and it is discovered that Schroder has no signature, those who view the NBA from a critical point of view will have more effective questions to ask.
Aron Solomon, PhD in Law, is the director of strategy Mr. Fashion Digital And edit Gentleman todayHe has taught entrepreneurship at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania, and is the founder of LegalX, the world’s first legal technology accelerator. Aron’s work is already in TechCrunch, wealth, Ventur
