“It’s bad for the NBA,” Austin Rivers criticises players for requesting problematic trades and also evaluates its effect on NBA

NBA superstar Damian Lillard has requested a trade to his team Portland Trail Blazers a few weeks ago and there has not been much movement in the market ever since. Lillard’s preferred destination is Miami Heat but the Trail Blazers would also look at their end of the bargain.

While the Trail Blazers are looking to respect Lillard’s request for a trade, they are unable to strike a deal with the Heat given their lack of draft assets. The Trail Balzers would need a sizeable return for one of the league’s best shooters and star players. So the trade saga will continue for some time now until both teams come to a mutual decision.

According to media reports the Trail Blazers are still not even close to completing the Lillard deal. While the saga is very exciting as it unfolds, veteran guard Austin Rivers feels that the entire Lillard trade fiasco can leave a negative impact on the NBA.

Rivers recently appeared on the Ringer podcast and there he spoke about what it means to play in the NBA and how players need to honour and respect their contracts. “Regardless of how good of a player you are, man, the NBA is a privilege,” Rivers said.

“If you are a free agent, then you can choose where you wanna go, that’s the business. But when you’re not, and you sign a deal, man, that’s part of the business, bro. If you get traded somewhere, you gotta go play, man,” he added.

Rivers referred to Philadelphia star James Harden and Brooklyn Nets forward Ben Simmons as the players who started these problems in the NBA. He believes that it was these two players who started the trend of creating problems for their respective franchises with trade requests.

“This started with James (Harden) and Ben (Simmons) and all these guys doing this s**t,” Rivers said.

Rivers highlights how stars asking for trades in the midway of their contracts is a massive blow to the other players in the NBA. He reasons how because of this the league’s new collective bargaining agreement is top-heavy.

“This is why our CBA deal that we just signed … It’s top-heavy,” Rivers said.

“That’s why you’re seeing all these teams now, you either make $50 million or $2 (million). It’s the most lopsided contract teams. I mean, it’s a joke, bro. I can’t tell you how many mid-level guys are signing for vet minimum (deals) around the NBA. It’s laughable. But yeah, it’s a scary dynamic when stars start acting like this and I am not a big fan of it.”

With everything said and done, people will still be excited to see where Lillard joins finally. Everyone wants a piece of the story as they want to follow the drama unfold as Lillard pushes a move out of Portland.