Gaming the system: The Josh Huestis situation

Last week, Darnell Mayberry laid out the parameters a strange, yet potentially innovative agreement with first round pick Josh Huestis.

I wrote about the odd situation on ESPN.com, trying to see both sides of the issue. On one hand, it’s a clever deal by the Thunder and a good thing for Huestis to be able to lock in to a future NBA contract when he otherwise wouldn’t have had one. On the other, it feels a bit slimy and dangerous, possibly opening the door for more draft deception.

Tom Ziller of SB Nation put it this way:

In Mayberry’s telling, what the Thunder are doing is innovative and smart. When you look at it from the workers’ perspective, it’s typical management flouting of established labor norms for the profit of the elite. It’s not worth celebrating. It’s worth rejecting.

There is a long-term fix for the core issue here. The NBA could add an optional 16th roster spot for NBA teams which can only be filled by first- or second-year players signed to NBA contracts who play exclusively for the franchise’s D-League affiliate for the entire season. As a condition, the player makes standard NBA wages, but his salary does not count against the team’s cap sheet, so no luxury tax is paid on it. This would let teams like the Thunder pay their draft picks and develop them in the D-League without costing the players money. Meanwhile, it’d let teams like the Thunder avoid tax bills for developing players and fix the roster size issue.

But until that fix is in place, the NBA should make clear the Thunder’s plans are not OK. The Thunder should pay Huestis what No. 29 picks are supposed to make, and they should do it now. Not later.

Huestis is opting not to sign a rookie scale deal that would guarantee him at least $1.5 million over the next two years to instead sign on with the 66ers for something like $25,000 a year. That alone has raised eyebrows all over and led to some pretty serious critiques of the Thunder.

But that is if you’re operating the idea that the Thunder picked Huestis and then sprung this on him. In reality, it was quite the opposite situation.

It’s a complicated situation and on the surface, it might be a win-win for both the Thunder and Huestis. But I’m a little concerned with the precedent it could set. Front offices lie to players all the time. They promise them in the first round if they leave college early, they tell them not to work out for other teams, they tell them they’re going to take them no matter what. With the way the Thunder operate, I’m sure that regardless of what happens, they’re going to uphold the agreement with Huestis. But I’m not entirely sure all 29 other teams would. And if the league allows this, some prospect is sure to get burned eventually.

Looking the situation over, it’s really hard to see overwhelming negatives outside the risk Huestis is taking. He could get hurt, he could have something happen that costs him an opportunity to cash in on an NBA career. But what the Stanford grad is really doing, is playing the long game. He’s not jumping at the opportunity for a non-guaranteed second round deal with a team that might not suit him. He’s instead taking the equivalent to unpaid internship to try and get a position with a company he really wants to work for. Instead of grabbing $500,000 non-guaranteed now, he’s looking to get at least three times that later.

Huestis did a really wise thing in taking the draft process into his own hands, at least as much is possible to. He wanted to play for the Thunder or Spurs, and was willing to do what was necessary to make it happen. But this move isn’t without risk. Other teams may try and use a similar approach, and it’s not hard to foresee complicated scenarios down the line. We’re talking about a first round pick leaving his guaranteed contract on the table to go to the D-League by choice. That’s something the NBPA can’t be thrilled about.

When an international player makes the choice Huestis did, he does it with a future in mind. The difference in those situations is that an international player is almost always making far more than $25,000 a year. Still, the idea is the same: Put the NBA contract on hold in order to solidify your game and standing.