忠誠

Kevin+OConnor

THE KYRIE IRVING-ISAIAH THOMAS TRADE HIGHLIGHTED THE DESIRE FOR BOTH PLAYERS AND FRONT OFFICES TO MOVE ON FROM THE STATUS QUO DURING A HECTIC SUMMER. ITS NOT A GOOD OR BAD THINGITS JUST A REALITY OF THE LEAGUES COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE.

凱里·歐文與伊塞亞·托馬斯的交易，正是球員和管理層在忙碌的夏天不愿停留在原地的真實寫照。這事無所謂好壞——不過是聯盟競爭狀態的現實。

If the NBAs summer of 2017 doesnt underscore that loyalty in sports is pure fiction， then what will？ Chris Paul left Los Angeles. Paul George forced his way out of Indiana. The Bulls stunned Jimmy Butler. Gordon Hayward dumped Utah. Kyrie Irving abandoned King LeBron James. The Celtics blindsided Isaiah Thomas. But with players increasingly influential when it comes to their brands， short-term deals， constant speculation， and long-term planning by savvy executives， our ideas about player-to-team loyalty and team-toplayer loyalty have been thrown out the window. Everything we think we know about sports tells us that Irving should want to stay in Cleveland， and Boston should want to keep Thomas—but the opposite is true.

如果2017年夏天的NBA還不足以說明體育界的忠誠是個十足的謊言，還有什么能說明？克里斯·保羅離開了洛杉磯，保羅·喬治想盡辦法離開了印第安納，公牛的操作讓吉米·巴特勒目瞪口呆，戈登·海沃德拋棄了猶他，凱里·歐文離開了“皇帝”勒布朗·詹姆斯，伊塞亞·托馬斯被凱爾特人打了個措手不及。可隨著球員對各自品牌，短期合同和持續不斷的傳言的影響越來越大，加上管理層理智的長期計劃，我們所謂球員對球隊的忠誠及球隊對球員的忠誠，已經被徹底拋在了腦后。按照我們以往對體育的認知，歐文應該留在克利夫蘭，凱爾特人應該留住托馬斯——可現實卻恰恰相反。

After Thomas was traded， Caron Butler and Ray Allen took to Instagram to call out perceived hypocrisy： When players arent"loyal" to their teams theres outrage， but theres no similar reaction when， say， a team trades a player who played in a game two days after his sister passed away while recovering from dental surgeries and battling a painful hip injury. Allen would know： He left the Celtics for the Heat in 2012， one month after Miami beat Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals， which earned him a "Judas Shuttlesworth" nickname. He wrote on Instagram， "It is just a business so when the teams do it there should be no difference when the players do it！"

托馬斯被交易后，卡隆·巴特勒和雷·阿倫在Instagram上指出了人們認識上的虛偽：球員不“忠誠”于球隊時，人們感到憤怒，但是當球隊交易走了一個妹妹去世兩天后就上場比賽，剛剛做完牙科手術，臀部傷病仍在恢復中的球員時，人們卻不會產生類似的反應。雷·阿倫對此再清楚不過了：2012年，熱火在東部決賽擊敗凱爾特人后一個月，他離開波士頓加入邁阿密，這讓他得到了“猶大沙特沃斯”的綽號。他在Instagram上寫道：“這不過是場生意，所以球隊做的和球員做的沒區別！”

The executives and agents Ive chatted with agree； they dont think anything of the choices made by the players and teams this summer."Every team operates pretty much the same way， which is virtually the same way nearly every business on earth operates，" said an NBA agent， who requested to be anonymous. Kevin Durants choice to leave the Thunder for the 73-win Warriors birthed the the My Next Chapter meme and a perception that he took the easy way out. Durant went on The Bill Simmons Podcast at the end of August， and had this to say： "Guys have been getting traded in their sleep for years. Guys have been getting the shitty end of the stick for years. I mean， some guys have been fucking over organizations， too. Its no loyalty. Its business. Theres money involved."

和我交流的管理層及經紀人認同這種觀點；他們對球員和球隊今年夏天的選擇沒有異議。……