Zion Williamson, Trae Young and modern player empowerment

Zion Williamson and Trae Young, will be the latest case studies in player empowerment encroaching upon NBA stars’ first contracts.

Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin made news this summer when he said he was “miserable” during his time building a championship team around LeBron James in Cleveland. After building something “unsustainable” in Cleveland, Griffin told Sports Illustrated, he knew that in order to make it work in New Orleans, he would have to go even deeper. If as the lead executive in Cleveland, Griffin was the type of person who went to the grocery store every day to buy ingredients for dinner that night, in order to do it right this time around, Griffin would buy the whole damn grocery store. Citing “the need to nurture,” Griffin was determined to construct a championship organization around No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson from day one.

As Williamson debuts Wednesday night at home against San Antonio, Griffin’s plan will begin and test his solution to the situation in which many NBA executives have failed before. The solution included a complete overhaul of New Orleans’ basketball operations department, including the hiring of Trajan Langdon from Brooklyn and Swin Cash from the WNBA’s New York Liberty. Griffin also stole highly regarded athletic trainer Aaron Nelson away from the Suns and signed veterans such as J.J. Redick and Derrick Favors to give the team a chance to compete immediately. Some of this is just smart franchise-building, but Griffin, far earlier than others before him, was treating Williamson’s time with the franchise like a ticking clock that started on draft night.

Griffin’s approach since trading Anthony Davis and drafting Williamson is not unique in the NBA today. The empowerment of star players has crept earlier and earlier into their careers since James altered the landscape of the league with his approach to free agency in 2010.

James didn’t leave the Cavaliers until after his (comparatively short) second contract. Yet others who took the baton from him have shortened the timeline on which teams operate by demanding trades. Keeping a player happy has to start immediately. If Kyrie Irving and Paul George will leave the teams that drafted them with two years left on their second deals, what’s to keep someone from doing so with three years left? Or, what’s to stop teams from making it known they’re keeping tabs on Karl-Anthony Towns, whose second contract began just three months ago?

Take as another example second-year guard Trae Young and his Atlanta Hawks, who made the first major trade of the NBA season earlier this month to acquire backup point guard Jeff Teague. Back in December, Shams Charania reported at The Athletic on “frustration among Hawks ownership, the front office and players” that led to an Atlanta executive telling Young they would add pieces to the roster soon.

For the small price of Allen Crabbe’s expiring contract, Teague will be an effective release valve when playing with Young and help the team stay afloat when Young sits. Atlanta’s offensive rating is 14.3 points lower when Young is on the bench, and injuries have made it hard to get consistent play-making out of almost anyone besides Young on the roster.

Still, the idea of getting veteran help for Young, a second-year guard whose game is far from whole itself, would have seemed crazy when James was in his teens. The pattern with a rebuild used to be an extended window of pure talent acquisition. Now teams feel the pressure to pivot towards competitiveness faster than ever and it comes from the anxiety within over how long a franchise can keep their special young players.

Everyone has reasons for leaving, and teams must try to limit them or build a culture so strong that it rises above these tiny crumbs of resentment. When Kevin Durant left the Thunder, the “Mr. Unreliable” headline in the local newspaper and the Thunder’s decision to trade James Harden highlighted Durant’s frustrations in Oklahoma City. George continues to talk around problems he had with Pacers executive Larry Bird, even two teams removed from Indiana. Irving grew tired, much like Griffin, of existing in James’ orbit day to day. Each situation is different and hard to predict.

To this point, no player has yet made a major stink during their rookie contract, which is probably smart on the whole. Imagine the reaction to, say, Towns asking out of Minnesota. Most would ask what he had achieved on his own that made him believe he would be better served elsewhere. When Kristaps Porzingis worked his way out of New York, his threats to play on a cheap, one-year qualifying offer felt empty. The Knicks were equally ready to get rid of Porzingis as he was to leave, so a deal was made quickly, but if it hadn’t been the Knicks, Porzingis’ posturing would have looked weak. There was no reason to think it was the team holding Porzingis back rather than his multitude of injuries and his overall inexperience.

Porzingis is not proof that teams need to start panicking during rookie contracts. The whole situation, including the criminal allegations that followed, is unique. Still, we can no longer say that no modern star player has ever asked to be traded before their first deal was up.

Young players are increasingly in control of their teams’ circumstances. It’s no wonder Griffin wanted to do it right from the jump in New Orleans. Williamson is a once-in-a-generation prospect — a distinctive talent and a perfect fit in the modern game. Building around him and keeping him likely provides the best chance Griffin will ever have to bring a perennial contender to New Orleans.

Williamson, along with Young, will still nevertheless be the latest case studies in player empowerment encroaching upon stars’ first contracts.