What Happened To City Loyalty?
The latest rumors all around the NBA are about local stars leaving, going away to the big bad teams in the league like the Lakers, Celtics, and now, Heat. What happened to the days when local stars spurned more money to stay and bring their city a championship?
Dwight Howard is about to break the hearts of Orlando Magic fans in half if he leaves. Fans have done everything humanely possible to keep him in a Magic uniform beyond this season, but so far, Howard will not sign his name on that dotted line.
In the not so recent past, we have seen LeBron James rip the heart from Cleveland to play for the Heat, Chris Bosh leaving Toronto to join James and Wade there, Carmelo Anthony demand his way out of Denver, and Amar’e Stoudemire opt out of his contract to join Anthony on the big stage in New York.
Where has the loyalty gone?
Steve Nash was traded early in his career to the Dallas Mavericks from the Phoenix Suns. After his contract expired, he went back to Mark Cuban asking him to match the Phoenix Suns offer, of which Nash would happily return to play for the Mavericks. Cuban didn’t and now Nash is mired in a horrible situation in Phoenix. But what has been different is that Nash has not demanded a trade out. He has very few good games/years left in him, and in Phoenix, is still far away from that elusive title. Kudos to Nash for sticking it out instead of whining like other stars have.
In 2003, Tim Duncan had the choice to leave the San Antonio Spurs, but he had no intentions are re-upped with the Spurs. Unless Tim decides to not resign cheaper or attempt to play with another squad, he will have played his entire career in San Antonio, much like his predecessor David Robinson did, sandwiched around a Navy stint.
Paul Pierce has had zero thoughts of leaving Boston either. Kevin Durant has so far re-upped for the Thunder, but how long will he stay there until the Lakers or Knicks throw the money plus market his way, though under the new collective bargaining agreement, the Thunder can offer the most money. Kevin Love went through some testy negotiations with the Timberwolves brass before he agreed to a contract extension.
But for all of these players, there are those who opt out to play in the big market. If you remember once the Big 3 of Bosh, James, and Wade came together, Mike Bibby forced his hand to join them, Zydrunas Ilgauskas joined them for dirt cheap, and others moved to Miami too.
What ever happened to players having loyalty, to try and earn their stripes and championships with their original (or team that gave them their first break for stardom) team? If you aren’t whole without a championship, you sure are not going to be with it.
Follow Paul Troupe on Twitter @gamin4HIM
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