When Anthony Davis made it clear on Monday that he wanted to be traded from the New Orleans Pelicans, the team that drafted him just short of seven years ago, it likely shook the foundations of smaller-market teams around the NBA, along with their fans.
The Jazz and their fanbase know all about the shaking, although when their star player — Gordon Hayward — left them in free agency, he gave them no forewarning that he wanted out. In that regard, the Pelicans are better situated than the Jazz were, having the opportunity between now and the end of Davis’ contract to get something in return for a tremendous player they’d lose, either way.
That’s how Hayward, who is not in Davis’ class as a talent, stuck it to the Jazz, but … no need to revisit that episode in any detail now.
Could Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert ever similarly stick the Jazz?
Under the rules of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, in simplified terms, teams can control first-round draft picks for a minimum of seven years, before they can become unrestricted free agents. There are some variances, depending on circumstances, but that’s the general idea.
As far as obligations go, it doesn’t matter how much effort that franchise puts into developing that player, how well it treats him, how competitive it becomes with him, how much the fans adore him, he is clear to bolt, to go to any destination city and club that can legally make room for him.
There are economic benefits, incentives within the terms of a new contract for him to stay where he is, but to some players, what’s $50 million here, $85 million there? Not enough to keep them with a team that wants him, in front of fans who have cheered and emotionally adopted him.
That’s why team execs and fans freak out when this dance is done, regardless of whether the star gives warning or not. He has the power. They have almost none.
That’s why some Jazz fans — and fans of other non-destination-type franchises, whatever that designation means — start worrying right from jump, when the front office has the acumen to draft a great player, or a player who can become great, and the coaching staff has the ability and drive to work with him to fulfill his individual potential. They want him to be an All-Star, but … what happens after he becomes one? Will his eyes and his ego wander?
It puts teams and fans — especially those who have been burned in the past — in an uncomfortable spot, one that might make them wonder whether the emotional and financial investment is worth it.
Ultimately, it has to be, otherwise why be in the business, why be a fan, why buy a jersey, why buy tickets, why care at all? That caring is what makes pro sports — in this case, the NBA — different from other forms of entertainment. Few moviegoers, for instance, rally around a favored film. They don’t identify with and place community pride behind and connect their own self-esteem to those other entertainment choices.
If the Jazz are good, then the fans are good.
If the Jazz become champions, the fans are champions.
In that way, the Jazz, and other teams, are a kind of modern equivalent — though far less intrusive and violent — of feudal armies of the past that represented the interests of their cities, their states, their domains.
So what can the Jazz do to hang onto Gobert and Mitchell over the long haul?
They can’t transform the beauty of Salt Lake City into the glitz of Hollywood or the nightlife of South Beach.
They can do what the Pelicans didn’t — become an authentic contender.
It is the best way for a smaller-market team to keep their guys. Even that might not always work — see Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs — but when a club has players as driven and conscientious and proud as Gobert and Mitchell, who want so badly to win, that is where the Jazz must build their insurance and assurance.
Do everything possible to make the player(s) great and to make the team great. Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey repeatedly has given team ownership credit for putting large amounts of money into facilities where players can grow and feel at home, where coaches can work with them and help them improve. Quin Snyder has gained a reputation around the league for leading a staff that not only knows how to make players better, but that has players’ best interests in mind.
The final key is results on the floor.
That’s why it’s so important over the next few seasons for the Jazz to win, to win big, to take advantage of what Gobert and Mitchell are becoming. Gobert has spoken publicly about wanting to build a champion right where he is, not to move to one where that building comes easy. Mitchell, too, has allowed that word — championship — to rattle around inside his brain and to cross his lips.
Targeting that goal and showing at least some success in doing so is what the Jazz must achieve to stop the shaking. They’ve been affected by it in the past, and kept right on moving forward. Davis will leave the poor Pelicans, one way or another, and they’ll be on their own to figure out how to chart their course in the future.
The only way to do it — in the general, not the specific, in many cases, not all of them — is to make your franchise a place where players feel valued, where they want to play. A place where players know that if they do their part, they will be rewarded by everyone else involved doing theirs.
Then, the winning, and the staying, will come.
GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.
