this is what irritates me about the league in recent history if this is actually true -- player collusion. League (Silver) should put an end to this collusion crap and if LA should sign either one, tell the other they will not be allowed to sign in LA --> get their $ elsewhere. Need to stop this perpetual unbalancing of the league by petty players trying to guarantee themselves a title.
Interestingly enough, I feel the exact opposite way on the manner.
Players should have the ultimate control over where they play, and I have no issue with players talking to each other about deciding to play together in a certain city. Good for them if they want to do so, we should all be so lucky as to be able to choose our co-workers.
As long as they are free agents i agree
yes, I should have been clearer about that. when one or both parties are under contract, this should absolutely be prohibited.
Admittedly I'm not a fan of them doing it if both are free agents but there's really no contractual basis to say they shouldn't talk. Personally, I hate the idea of colluding for 'superteams' by players. if a team can put one together via trades or free agency without having to collude with free agents to make it work then so be it.
By that last comment I'm talking about a situation where say LA talks to Lebron and Durant next year on a conference call saying "hey, if you each sign for $5 mill per year less than the max you can each make, I can pull in Player X with what we have left under the cap which would be as much as we can offer". In that situation I would want the players to do what's best for them in a vacuum which would be to get their max contract. in this scenario, both players get signed for what they're worth but the team is prevented from further loading the dice by picking up a 3rd 'max' player.