Beginning at 6:01 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the flurry begins. The negotiations will be immediate; they will be active and ongoing. Texts… phone calls… face-to-face. The NBA’s annual Free Agency Moratorium starts tonight.
Perhaps one is not a fan of the professional hardwood; follow me still for a moment here…
The Moratorium is basically a week-long negotiation period in which teams may negotiate deals with free agents but cannot officially sign them or make trades; the deals are thus characterized as non-binding agreements.
The inexact, rumored, pre-period story lines go something like this…
Kawhi Leonard to the Lakers…
Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers…
Kawhi Leonard to anywhere in sunny southern California…
Kevin Durant to the Clippers…
Kevin Durant going home to New York…
Kevin Durant staying home in Golden State…
Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, and Klay Thompson…
Jimmy Butler, Al Horford, and more…
They all need a place to play.
So it got me thinking…
Recognize the massive amounts of money these players will be paid. Durant, for example, after grossing $30,750,000 for last season, is expected to be offered either a five-year, $221 million contract or a four-year, $164 million deal. And due to injury, whatever salary he is paid next year, he will earn by not playing.
Back to the thinking (and non-NBA fans, thanks for staying with me)…
How much is a person worth?
Is it fair?
Is it accurate?
Does fairness even matter?
Can a person’s worth actually be measured in dollars and cents?
I suppose I have long struggled with the concept of discerning the worth of another in terms of money. Having a son with special needs brought that home for me years ago; professional options and compensation after high school and possibly college will differ for him from those a typical graduate would have available. I’d like to say that realization was a subtle, personal learning, but it was far more one of those divine, figurative whacks on the head, in an area where no doubt I needed to grow.
All men and women are created equal. One has no greater — nor lesser — worth than another. It doesn’t matter if you’re a thriving high school senior with Down syndrome or one ready to sign a max contract in the NBA. Each of us were created equal by God. We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. In fact, I deeply believe that if each of us could learn to honor all of our neighbors equally — recognizing that God’s image in them is the same as it is in you and me — there would be remarkably less conflict and tension on this planet.
So back to the questions…
How much is a person worth?
And can it really be measured in dollars and cents?
Some assume we will start to figure that out at 6:01 tonight. My sense is that worth has already been established.
Respectfully…
AR