The Cost of Winning

At the start of the NBA season, there have been several non-basketball controversies regarding issues that have been more pressing and important to discuss than basketball.  Kyrie Irving came under fire for tweeting a link that is alleged to contain multiple instances of hate speech, most notably promoting several antisemitic conspiracy theories (I use “allegedly” because I have not watched the film and have no desire to do so, though I have heard multiple reliable sources who have watched the movie who confirmed these allegations).  While he just returned from an indefinite suspension (he returned on 11/20) where the team’s owner, Joe Tsai, specified he needed to complete several steps to prove he could return to the team, there was initially no suspension and inaction from the league until a week later.  While navigating the Irving controversy, the Nets also found themselves in hot water after announcing they were planning on hiring Ime Udoka as head coach, who is currently suspended by the Boston Celtics for an inappropriate work relationship, prior to recanting the announcement after they said they needed further vetting.  Joshua Primo was abruptly waived by the Spurs mere weeks after the team option for the 3^rd year of his rookie contract was picked up without any context; after a few weeks, it came out that he exposed himself to several women in the Spurs organization, most notably resulting in a lawsuit from a former psychologist with the team that alleged Primo exposed himself 9 times in sessions and the organization didn’t take appropriate action despite knowing.  Additionally, there is now at least one team who has reached out about Miles Bridges, who was arrested for domestic violence in the offseason and recently agreed to a plea deal where he avoids prison time; the Lakers have reportedly expressed interest in him, though he can be punished by the league and is still a restricted free agent and the Charlotte Hornets have the rights to match any offer received.

I have long pushed off discussing each of these topics for several reasons, the biggest being that I wasn’t sure what direction to take.  Some topics I considered discussing were workplace conduct, why workplaces can punish people for various actions, truth, how public actions like these can contribute to trauma, the league’s responsibility in each of these scenarios, public outcry depending on specific minority groups or actions, the racial aspect of some of these, and the PR side regarding each scenario, though there is one aspect that I considered that I kept coming back to:  how the desire to win impacts moral standards.

I would also like to take a moment here to address each of these controversies individually prior to going into this topic.  First, I do not condone any form of hate speech, sexual misconduct, or abuse, nor do I find it acceptable in any position.  There are many individuals who not only still have to experience this physically in their lives but also still have to deal with the trauma, PTSD, and other health impacts that each of these can cause; it is not fair for anyone to have to undergo something like this.  As for the Irving situation, I do not believe he handled it properly after promoting (yes, Kyrie, I’m using the word promoting for when you share a link) a video with this kind of speech and then not reflecting on or considering what actions he took, but I also do not believe the right actions were taken by the league (by not taking action until over a week later) and the team (making these kind of requirements open to the public and making an organization who has faced criticism in the Anti-Defamation League as involved as they are with it; I also don’t love that they seem to be improvising by the day, seemed to take more of a reactive approach depending on public pressure, and not appearing to attempt to create any standard or precedent, let alone follow one); I also believe that this response would not have been as pronounced if a group that is predominantly non-white individuals were the one facing targeted hate speech, though that does not excuse the hate speech brought about and promoted.   In the Primo incident, I find it concerning and disturbing (though not surprising) that the team knew about these incidents and didn’t take appropriate action prior to them realizing they could not contain it anymore; had they handled the issue internally upon it being first reported, it would have further prevented and could emphasize that the behavior was unacceptable, rather than ignore it while it continued to occur.  With Udoka and Bridges, I don’t have enough information to comment on enough of the details with their respective situations, but I’m not surprised by either of them.  The Nets clearly didn’t do due diligence prior to announcing Udoka would be coach and only recanted after they realized individuals in the organization were unsettled by this.  With Bridges, I figured someone would offer a contract once he avoided jailtime since he is a talented player, though I think he would be signed already if he wasn’t a restricted free agent.

While the most important goal for a sports team is to make money, there is also a general assumption that teams want to win, especially when considering teams like the Lakers and Nets (both trying to win now) and the Spurs (trying to win in the long-term though not as focused on now).  That’s why I expect that there will be teams interested in acquiring Bridges or hiring Udoka, though they do have to keep in mind potential punishment in Bridges’ case and backlash related to hiring Udoka.  The NBA does not have a specific punishment for domestic assault cases, though some instances are investigated by the league, which is something that I would expect to happen here.  It is worth noting that they tend to be more lenient for compliance and having a reputation as a good person, which is noted since he was fined at the end of the last season for throwing a mouthguard into the crowd.  As for Udoka, the league did not suspend him since it was a team policy he violated, but the Nets reportedly faced substantial backlash from the organization after making that decision.  I was surprised they didn’t go through with that hiring since I thought they would just say that they knew him from his previous tenure as an assistant coach with the team and that it was not the Udoka that they knew.  There are reports that indicate that some in the organization considered the Udoka selection to be a last resort to salvage an untenable situation in Brooklyn, which isn’t surprising given the respect he received during his time coaching Boston last year.  I still expect that there will be teams that will at least consider hiring him prior to the start of next season (keep an eye out for the Philadelphia 76ers, another team he previously coached for, especially with Doc Rivers likely on the hot seat).

As for the Primo situation, this seems like a standard situation of allowing and effectively enabling a potential star to operate under a different set of rules due to talent.  He was drafted 12^th overall in 2021 and, while raw, showcased a substantial amount of potential as a rookie.  Now only 19, he showed potential as a playmaker, shooter, and athlete at different points during his career.  While it may sound surprising that the team would not take proper action regarding a player that is still so raw and will likely need at least a couple more years to develop, they have had recent success in developing raw but athletic young players, including Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson.  On top of that, Primo was drafted in the lottery, which generally are not selections teams like to waste considering their value.  I think that his potential value to the future of the club made them believe that any matters kept internally wouldn’t be an issue.  However, as previously alluded to, I think it would have been not only the right thing organizationally to handle the incidents as reported, but also been able to utilize this as a teaching moment for him; now by releasing him, they instead attempted to clear their name from it and made him a scapegoat despite clear and obvious organizational failures allowing this to occur.

Now the final question is how winning relates to the Kyrie Irving suspension, and I would say quite swimmingly.  While suspending a star player doesn’t directly add to winning, the team was already dealing with several other headaches, including disappointment with Ben Simmons’ performance, Steve Nash’s firing, early season struggles, several injuries, last year’s disaster of a season, and the hangover and fear surrounding Kevin Durant’s trade request in the offseason.  It sounded like Tsai did not want what happened last season with Irving missing a sizeable portion of the season due to vaccination mandates, so it is logical to think that this is the next step.  It does also make sense to figure that the chaos is why the team didn’t opt to hire Udoka since the team is already a bit of a circus.  That said, I think there is one massive thing that not enough people are talking about:  while Durant and Irving came in with the idea that it would be their team and they would set culture, the fact is that it hasn’t worked.  I believe that Durant is less of an issue with the culture in that regard because he has either stated or implied at multiple times that he is in the league to play basketball and wants to focus on that, but their version of player empowerment hasn’t resulted in winning a championship; rather, the environment scared off James Harden after just a season of being with the team.  I honestly believe that Tsai wouldn’t be bothered one bit had they won a championship since signing Durant and Irving, but ultimately the combination of losing and lack of control has put Tsai in a position where he decided that getting back power is more important than winning.