The snark during recent seasons had been of LeBron James doubling as general manager, be it the additions he insisted upon during his Miami Heat tenure (Mike Miller, Ray Allen) or those he helped orchestrate with the Cleveland Cavaliers (Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love, acquiring JR Smith, the above-market deal for Tristan Thompson).
And yet, in listening to Heat president Pat Riley a week ago during his summer of discontent, the notion of NBA stars as the league’s ultimate power brokers is probably as true during this era of free agency as it ever has been.
To get a star, you not only need a star, but a star actively engaged in the personnel process, such as when the Golden State Warriors rolled their starting lineup into the Hamptons this summer to embrace Kevin Durant, or when the Heat fuelled their Big Three push behind Dwyane Wade in 2010.
It is why, in the wake of their compelling appearance at the ESPYs, it would be wise not to sleep on the possibility of James, Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul eventually joining forces. With today’s players, where there is such a will, there almost assuredly can be a way.
Riley, in fact, opened a reflective window into players and power-brokering as he offered his epilogue on the Heat’s Wade era, by going back to how it all began with Wade, James and Chris Bosh.
“I can tell you a funny story about... maybe I shouldn’t,” he said in his typical disarming manner of arming his argument. “But I can tell you a funny story about 2010. When we took the three of them in, we had $49.5mn (in cap space). So we had $16.5mn for each guy, which was the max deal. So, we got it all.
“Then they said, ‘Well, who do we have left?’ We got Mario (Chalmers) as the starting point guard and we got Joel (Anthony) as the starting center. That’s it; we have five guys.
“They said, ‘Well, we would like to get Mike Miller. How can we get Mike Miller?’ I said, ‘I can’t get you Mike Miller. We can’t get him. I don’t have the money.’ So we traded Michael Beasley to get the money, but they had to go down to $15mn. That was their choice. Then they wanted UD (Udonis Haslem). Well, I can’t get UD even though I wanted to get UD.”
That’s when Wade stepped up to sacrifice a bit more of his salary than James and Bosh in order to re-sign Haslem, who now stands as the last remaining member of that 2010-11 Heat roster.
But Riley said the players-as-brokers wanted even more, the extra year for James and Bosh that only could be assured by changing their signings to a sign-and-trade agreement.
“So that whole concept about bringing guys in the (cap-space) room was on five-year deals,” Riley continued of when contracts were allowed to be a year longer than currently.
“The interesting part is on July 9th, they all agreed to come in on five-year deals, room only, so I didn’t have to give up any assets. Then, at the 11th hour, they all wanted the sixth year. You know what that cost me and Andy (Elisburg, the Heat’s general manager)? That cost us four picks. I just said to them, ‘If you want the sixth year because I know you’re going to opt out after the fourth anyhow, but if you want the sixth year, I don’t want any of you to walk into my office and say, ‘Hey, can we get any young guys around here? Can we get some draft picks around here?’ Because they were gone.”
It turns out James did want more young guys and picks, the young guy who turned out to be championship co-conspirator Kyrie Irving this past season in Cleveland, the pick in Wiggins that the Cavs flipped for Love.
When he was done with his reflection, Riley smiled, “and I don’t know why I told you that story.”
But he did. Of course he did. Because for all the power he has amassed with the Heat, all the respect he has cultivated around the league, this is an era brokered by the players, and when they don’t get or can’t get what they want, a LeBron James leaves for Cleveland, a Dwyane Wade departs for Chicago.