THE NBA was rocked recently by two major player trades involving superstar and near superstar players.

One took everyone by surprise, including the players themselves, the other one, it was bound to happen with a lot of pre-trade noise.

Let us look at the first one.

Dallas held very secret trade talks with the Los Angeles Lakers and when everything was set, the two teams simply told the players concerned, Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis that they are now playing on the opposite team and announced it to the world.

For the other recent deal, it took the more familiar route.

Miami’s Jimmy Butler had made a lot of noise about wanting a trade since late last year, saying he was unhappy already with the Heat.

Miami Heat President Pat Riley, the tough executive that he was, did not blink and started exploring possible deals, ending up with shipping out Jimmy to the Golden State for Andrew Wiggins and Dennis Schroeder.

Luka and Anthony were definitely surprised, actually an understatement, Andrew too as he was told of it practically before the game, Jimmy was happy.

The coaches involved, sorry I do not think any one of them had a choice nor a say in the final decision.

The fans, depending on their respective takes on the trades, will express outrage, more visible in Dallas than in the other cities involved.

And for the team owners and the NBA, it is business as usual, nothing else.

So what else is new?

Nothing, at least as far as a jaded ex corporate management guy like me , I have been doing corporate training in the past and one aspect in the brutal corporate world I used to share was decision-making.

And I always point out the fact the simple difference between a personal decision and a business decision, in believe me, in most if not all player deals in whatever sport, it is foremost a business deal, no emotions involved.

Leave the emotions to the players if you want, and in the end, they too accept the realities, they can feel bad at the start but eventually they go back to what they are supposed to do, play the gane and leave the wheeling and dealing to the team managers and other senior team officials, in the end, to the team owners who have the final say.

In a way, these player trades can be viewed beyond just mere exchaging players, for one, it sends a clear message to players, they may have the fame, the glory, and big money too, but the team owners will always end up calling the shots, period.

Of course there are a few superstars that team owners will try to please once in awhile, take Lebron James for instance, he exerts a lot of influence on management supposedly, but in the Luca-Anthony trade, he was not informed about it , he even said he initially thought it a fake news.

Now, was that a message being sent to Lebron by managenent, I believe so , Lebron even if he is still performs well, the fact is he is definitely old in basketball standards.

And another hard truth in business, you are only as good as what you are now, never mind the past, if you cannot contribute as you used to do, then it is a matter of time that you will be eased out, retired, or forced to go, or voluntary resignation after seeing what is bound to happen, that is the way.

Loyalty for basketball players, it exists for some, there were NBA superstars who only played for one team in their entire career, to name a few, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and John Stockton that I know of.

Even here in the PBA, during the time of Crispa and Toyota, the players were rabidly for their teams, well, except for the marginal players who knew they can easily be replaced any time.

But the hard truth, loyalty does not exist in professional sports, in the NBA, it may but more for the fans, certainly not for the teams and the players.

I still remember the time when Johnny Abarrientos and Poch Juinio were traded by Alaska to Pop Cola for Jon Ordonio and Ali Peek, I got wind of it and confirmed it with Kenneth Duremdes, which he did, saying Johnny was really shocked and everyone was sad.

Actually I asked team managers Joaqui Trillo and Elmer Yanga about it, and as expected, they did not want to talk about it, business as usual .

In the end, Johnny got over it and moved on.

Now more than ever, I believe players both in the NBA and the PBA have already accepted this harsh truth and so they try to get the most of what they can from the teams they play with, and that’s it, no more loyalty.

Even the fans, after all the outpouring of emotions, they will continue watching and hope that the decision of their team owners will turn out to be good in terms of winning games.

You may agree or disagree with the above, I do not mind.

On another matter, too bad I could not honor the invitation of former road race champion Vilma Sta. Rosa, now based in the States but here on vacation with hubby Oliver Plagata.

A product of FEU in the UAAP, she lorded it over in 5K and 10K road races in the distant past when I was actively covering running.

She invited me for a get together with other FEU track athletes who were also with Mike Keon’s Gintong Alay program , it was held yesterday afternoon in Pasay but I had to go to the babang luksa of my brother in law who passed away last December 29..

See you next time Vilma .

AUTHOR PROFILE

Lito Cinco