Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made headlines recently be denouncing the way Anthony Davis went about his business in hopes to get dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers. His comments were cause for controversy, despite his longstanding record of supporting player movement, though he recently clarified that he would've preferred Davis go about his trade ambitions quietly.
Yet that hasn't stopped the 53-year-old from being concerned about the state of the league after the recent wave of stars looking for happiness in different places:
“The league has always revolved around the top 15 guys,” Kerr told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan. “But how many of them left? Larry [Bird] stayed, Magic [Johnson] stayed, Tim Duncan stayed, Kobe [Bryant] stayed, even Michael [Jordan] mostly stayed.
“What's shocking is the caliber of the players — LeBron, KD, Kawhi — that are leaving. And they kind of run the league.”
Kerr maintained he has no issue with players departing in free agency, but does take umbrage with those who force their way out of a franchise due to their ambitions to wind up in a bigger market, citing Anthony Davis and Paul George as examples:
“That's the real danger,” said Kerr. “That's where you start to get concerned. At least I do. As for our league, it's bad for business.”
Out of the four superstars adorning the respective LA teams, all four came from smaller markets — Davis (New Orleans) and LeBron James (Cleveland), as well as Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio-Toronto) and George (Indiana-Oklahoma City).
While the moving and shaking is appealing to fans, it makes it tougher for smaller markets to compete at a championship level.
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