Former Knicks GM Scott Perry on the Hoop Genius Podcast about the disgruntled superstar strategy: “If a guy’s disgruntled somewhere else, what makes you think he won’t be disgruntled when he comes to you? I’m just sayin. You hear this as a strategy now…Me personally, you have to proceed with real caution…I don’t have the ‘arrogance’ necessarily to believe that a guy’s gonna come to our place & he’s gonna be happy just because…And when you look at these disgruntled stars, how many of them have left a situation where everything was catered around them…when they go to the new team, it’s not quite the same for them…the guys that have been traded…Dwight Howard, when I first got to Orlando, he was the Orlando Magic. Ever since he’s been gone from there, what’s his career looked like? He’s been searching for what he had in Orlando the entire time”
Other disgruntled stars that have been traded. CP3, Shaq, kawhi, melo, KG and kareem come to mind as players who were disgruntled and worked out. If you want to argue Melo didn’t work out, sure but while I see Perry’s point, there’s other sides to this case.
I agree with proceeding with caution but the truth is, if you feel like you’re bringing a player into a great situation and environment, you shouldn’t worry about who you trade for as much. Have faith in the foundation that you’re responsible for and believe that they won’t be disgruntled. Can’t be afraid to make a splash forever.