Has the NBA gone soft?
I don’t mean the players, per se (okay, maybe some of them), but the leadership. The whole mindset seems to have gone from suit to quarter zip and the (lack of) professionalism and (lack of) self-discipline is showing through; not talking the fashion itself – but the mindset… and it’s uglier than Shaquille O’Neal’s free throw numbers … or his feet when he comes out of the showers barefoot.
I am old enough to remember the days where there was trash talk o’ plenty, and if it got to someone too much, there were shoving matches, some that even led to fisticuffs. I remember one swing that Shaq took and missed, and Brad Miller is still alive to this day as a result of that miss.
From those came suspensions.
The Malice at the Palace (20 years ago this month) may have changed that landscape forever and set the table for what we are witnessing today – people getting suspensions for disagreeing with the motives of a coach or coaching staff, voicing it, and being suspended for basically having an opinion.
Or is the league picking and choosing what it wants to acknowledge and what (or whom) it wants to ignore?
What if Ja Morant were in a major media market?
But he’s not – he’s in Memphis, Tennessee. Bright lights, big city for a young man from Dalzell, South Carolina … population 3,175. And while nearly six times that amount come to see Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum, meanwhile Memphis is No. 48 out of 100 in media market rankings – only New Orleans ranks lower amongst NBA cities.
So Memphis might as well be the NBA version of Dalzell, South Carolina. All eyes are on you all of the time. How’s a brother gonna catch a break? Express his opinion without blowback?
I mean, Memphis is big enough where not everybody knows everybody like Dalzell. But all the business people know each other – and everyone there sure as hell knows who Temetrius Jamal Morant is … and just like a small town, they know everything he says and does and it’s under a microscope every bit as much as it would have been in Dalzell.
What if he had been somewhere else – like New York? Or L.A.?
We may soon find out.
Already nuances that the Grizzlies are already to move on from Morant – the comments about ‘ask the coaching staff’ may have been the final straw of an excuse they need after incidents of aggressive confrontations with the Indiana Pacers in 2023, which included allegations of laser attached to a firearm, Instagram videos circulating of Morant with a gun in a Colorado nightclub a month later, and gun-aiming/mimicking gestures between him and Buddy Hield in April of this year.
Despite all of that, despite the suspensions, despite the injuries, the Grizzlies extended Morant five years, worth up to $231 million – all to come to a point this past weekend where it is now whispered – and not so quietly – that the Grizzlies are willing to move Morant.
For six first round draft picks.
Minimum.
Meanwhile, you have inconsistencies like the Los Angeles Clippers’ James Harden, who not even a week after the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups, and 30 others in an NBA gambling allegations and rumored collaboration with certain alleged members of the mafia on poker games, Harden either purposely or ignorantly does the unthinkable and inexplicable.
In a game on October 28th versus the Golden State Warriors, Harden drops 20 points in the first half of a highly anticipated game. He doesn’t score a point in the second half. In fact, the Clippers were outscored 52-30 in the second half after leading 49-46 after the first half.
Did the team suddenly get butterflies? Why did Harden go ice cold? Because it was the Warriors, was he under the illusion this was a playoff game and he just disappeared like he so often does in the post-season? Bigger question, why does he so often disappear with the big game(s) on the line?
May or may not be relevant – but James’ over/under for points that night was 20.5 … interesting, provocative, controversial maybe. That’s not conduct detrimental to the team? The Clippers lost by 19 that night, and 22 in the second half by God! Steve Ballmer has payments to make on the Intuit Dome for crying out loud!
But seriously, Harden would then go on to score 24 against the New Orleans Pelicans in a win three nights later and dropped 29 in a one-point loss to the Miami Heat last night. He’s Big Game James when he wants to be.
Obviously people look the other way or avoid things altogether when you’re winning for them or lining their pockets. Just like when your load management rehabilitation means you can’t play or even participate in basketball-related activities, but you can go plant a tree or two for millions upon millions of dollars.
(Imagine that God-awful laugh and let it haunt you because it’s laughing that way all the way to the bank).
Hopefully that person has high Aspirations for what’s left of his career.
But all one has to do is watch the Netflix documentary ‘Operation Flagrant Foul’ to see that this is bigger than Billups, Rozier, poker games, and not making your 20.5 over/under number.
This didn’t go away with Tim Donaghy – it was swept under the rug for 20 years. Leopards don’t change their spots – one either side of the equation. You’re telling me this came full stop after ‘one’ incident? Cold turkey?
Doesn’t happen.
The Los Angeleses and New Yorks of the world will look the other way – and have – as long as you’re their cash cow, putting butts in their seats, making them money hand over fist. I believe Adam Silver opened Pandora’s Box on this one – and no one’s getting poor but the ignorant, self-delusional, and egotistical who play.
(Imagine that God-awful laugh again … times 30 … times however many executives make up pro sports, the now-numerous websites, and leagues executives).
Ain’t nobody doing it for fun. This isn’t the office pick ‘em pool for a pizza party. Uh uh.
But when you’re shooting under 40 percent, barely averaging 20 points a night, and only shooting 13.9 percent from three, then no matter what you’ve done for that team, that city, it’s all in the past. You become disposable.
And using that scorecard is unfair, because it makes winning feel like losing. It’s essentially conduct detrimental to the player, the person, the father. But it’s allowed, because they’re owners … and players are, well, owned.
Might as well be back in Dalzell – at least there you know people love you, support you, and appreciate you no matter what.
****************************************
Tracy ‘T-Money’ Graven is the Senior NBA Analyst for BackSportsPage.com owner of TMoneyMedia.com and also has his posts on SubStack at allballs.substack.com
He has written the NBA, appeared as a guest on NBA Radio, and the last 25+ years for HoopsWorld, Swish Magazine, HoopsHype, the Coach Scott Fields Show, NBARadioShow.com, and also tackles the NFL and NCAA. He’s spent 25+ years in locker rooms in Orlando, Boise (CBA, G League), San Antonio, Phoenix, Denver, Oklahoma City, and Atlanta.
He has raised five kids, and now currently resides in the heart of SEC Country near Knoxville, Tennessee – home of the 2024 Men’s Baseball World Series Champion Tennessee Volunteers.
Reach him on Twitter at @RealTMoneyMedia
Featured Articles
Featured Writers
