Don’t blame players for signing a massive contract – Rashard Lewis tells the NBA owners
The day NBA lockout inhaled its first breath; the whole focus went on the players having massive guaranteed contracts, which is actually one of the major reasons behind the work stoppage.
The NBA owners claimed that they were bearing heavy losses and started to blame NBA players who were talking home almost 57 percent of the Basketball related income.
Among those, who are carrying massive guaranteed contracts in NBA, there are some players who don’t deserve that much money in the eye of others. Ultimately, these non-deserving players were targeted the most and that list also
includes Washington Wizards veteran combo forward Rashard Lewis.
The 32-year-old Lewis, who was selected by the Seattle Supersonics during 1998 NBA Draft with the 32nd overall pick, signed a contract worth 118 million dollars in 2007 for six years with the Orlando Magic.
Despite of failing to become an All-Star in the last two seasons, the bar chart of the salary kept on escalating for Rashard and the Magic finally managed to shelve him off to Washington Wizards in return for Gilbert Arenas, in
the middle of the last season. Rashard Lewis, having ruled NBA in the early years of the last decade, is presently the second highest paid player in NBA next year behind Los Angeles Lakers legendary shooting guard Kobe Bryant.
Lewis however has lost his groove in the last few years and last season, he only averaged 11.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in Washington Wizards uniform, a performance which absolutely does not justify the amount of money he is earning.
This has ultimately put Lewis under the lime-light of the discussion of having a contract he does not deserve.
However, for those who are pointing fingers at Rashard for his contact, the two-time All-Star Lewis wants them to answer a question. While giving an interview to ESPN, Rashard Lewis said,
“You sign me to a deal, you think I’m going to say, ‘No, I deserve $50 [million] instead of $80 [million]?’ I’m like, ‘h**l, yeah.’ I’m not going to turn it down. You can’t blame the players. If anything, we don’t negotiate the
deal. We’ve got agents that negotiate the deals with the team. Y’all need to go talk to the teams and the agents.”
It might be ridiculous how little Rashard produces on the court, for how much he gets paid, however he does have a valid point.
The blame for this situation lies solely on the general managers and NBA owners, who make wrong decisions at the wrong time. Should they be more careful while signing a contract with a coveted player, the problems which have now
taken the shape of a lockout would never occurr.
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