Hi, my name is Matt. And I am a sports nut.
Anyone who has had even a passing acquaintance with me is aware of this fact. I love sports, pretty much all of them. But especially team sports in the United States leagues. And I play both fantasy and daily fantasy as a past time. I engage in sports conversations with numerous individuals, both in person and online, every day.
As a result, when I see things from which I can derive some lesson or point about life, those often come from the sports world. And that’s what sparked this one.
This past week, the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs pulled off a blockbuster trade, in which the Raptors acquired forward Kawhi Leonard, widely considered to be a franchise difference maker, for, among other players, swingman Demar Derozan, a rising young player whom had previously dedicated himself to the Raptors by signing a huge contract extension with them.
Shortly after the news broke, Derozan went to Twitter, complaining that there “ain’t no loyalty in this game.” His fellow players seemed to agree, as a flood of support came in for him from around the league. The backlash got high enough that Toronto Raptors team president Masai Ujiri even apologized at a press conference a couple days later.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, some Lakers fans are apparently up in arms about any adulation being shown to superstar Lebron James, who signed with their team in the splash free agency move of the summer. A huge mural of James was defaced not once, but twice by members of a contingent of the fanbase which purportedly views “King James” not as a franchise saver, but as a usurper to the crown that once belonged to retired star Kobe Bryant.
The common connection between these two stories? Loyalty. The surreal craziness of both comes from this simple emotion.
To which I say, loyalty shmoyalty. Considered a virtue, loyalty is actually one of the worst inhibitors to anyone who wishes to live a better life.
Loyalty is an emotion about security, familiarity and comfort. These are good things—if you want to remain staid, placid and not grow or improve for the rest of your life. There might not be another virtue more overrated than loyalty.
The Raptors are taking a shot at a title with one of the best players in the game in Leonard, a shot they would not get with Derozan, who is a good but not game-changing player by most estimations. The Lakers are refusing to live in the past and taking a shot at the title themselves by bringing in James.
These franchises are making themselves better. So is James. He showed no loyalty in moving from Cleveland to Los Angeles, leaving the city of his youth for the second time in his career. He knew Los Angeles would put him in a better situation to achieve his goals, so he made it happen.
I see Derozan and these other players crying about the lack of loyalty in the game. Meanwhile, Leonard is already reportedly talking about leaving Toronto for Los Angeles to become a teammate of James the first instant he can. A large number of players jumped from one team to another this offseason, sometimes because their former employers chose not to bring them back, but usually because they were looking for better situations and more money for themselves.
Apparently loyalty is only a good thing when someone else needs to show it to the players, not when they themselves are asked to be loyal. This is not only a player issue. How often have fans, media and members of the front office of teams gotten upset that a beloved player left them for another team? Is it not on the teams to convince those players to stay? Why do they expect to get a “hometown discount?” Why should the players take less than market value and maybe remain in a situation which they find less favorable, merely out of loyalty?
But my point is not to make a deal about the hypocrisy, but about how there is nothing wrong whatsoever in anyone, be it a player or his team, making an effort to be better. The Raptors did nothing wrong in making this trade—they believe it will get them to the NBA Finals. James did the right thing for himself when he signed with the Lakers.
There ain’t no loyalty in the game? There shouldn’t be!
This is a business, and these people are living their own lives. They have a right to pursue that in any manner they see fit, so long as they aren’t illegally or unethically hurting others in doing so.
This actually goes for everyone. The standard for annual salary increases in corporate America is 3 percent. This annual “raise” quite often falls short of the rise in cost of living and inflation, meaning that us regular folks are sometimes making the same or less than we did before. Your employer will offer these raises to you like they are doing you a favor, and you will be viewed negatively if you turn it down or leave for another job. There is an expectation that you take the offer, because, loyalty.
Meanwhile, if your production drops, or you make a mistake, or the company simply is losing money and needs to cut somewhere, you can lose your job at the drop of a hat.
Point is, don’t let loyalty be the reason you don’t go out and pursue everything that is due to or achievable by you.
As for the mural defacing fans? Well, fan is short for fanatic—they’re nuts. Those same folks will be lining the parade route if James succeeds in bringing a trophy or two home.