The Jimmy Butler trade saga has ended, but the NBA business landscape that helped produce it remains.
On Wednesday, the Timberwolves faced another team clinging to a star player _ a New Orleans Pelicans franchise that wonders how long the good times can last.
If Anthony Davis wants to be traded, he has offered only speculative clues. He changed agents this fall, and New Orleans shuddered. He signed with Rich Paul, who just happens to represent LeBron James, which only fueled speculation that Davis and James could join forces next season with the Lakers.
Butler isn't the first NBA player to make a trade demand that tears apart a franchise blueprint. He won't be the last, at least not while the league wrestles with unintended consequences from its rapid growth and popularity.
Analysts say components of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement designed to keep stars with teams actually have had the reverse effect, while the league's latest national television contract essentially created two economies.
One features players who cashed in after the salary cap skyrocketed by $24 million in 2016, and the other has players such as Butler, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, who signed long-term deals before that cash infusion hit the league.
"So you get marginal players like Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov all of a sudden getting paid at what was previously all-star level," said Larry Coon, who dissects the league's CBA on his website NBA Salary Cap FAQ. "Then you get guys who really are top level players, and they're not getting the kind of money that they would be entitled to under the new economy."
George and Leonard requested trades, which their teams eventually granted. The Timberwolves endured a disastrous start this season before finally shipping Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers this week in a multiplayer deal.
