SpursFanSinceNovember2017
Superstar
How free agency changed NBA team building
There’s a reason Oscar Robertson spent the first ten years of his career toiling away for the Cincinnati Royals (a basketball team). He couldn’t leave! There was no such thing as a free agent back then. In fact, it wasn’t until the summer of 1988 that a new collective bargaining agreement created the concept of unrestricted free agency. Prior to that time, a player in his prime would only part ways with his team if — like the Big O — he was traded away (or, in rarer cases, via a funky mechanism akin to the modern sign-and-trade agreements). Likewise, NBA teams had basically two ways to add new players: draft a rookie or make a trade with another team. As such, success on draft day was absolutely paramount to having success on the court.
All that changed in the summer of 1988 when a 6-10 All-Star power forward out of the University of Utah became the first ever unrestricted free agent. The 29-year-old, seven-year NBA vet, Tom Chambers, left a crowded Seattle SuperSonics front court for Phoenix. He teamed up with an impressive young collection of talent — Kevin Johnson, Jeff Hornacek, and Tyrone Corbin — acquired by the Suns via the draft. The pairing was an immediate success as Chambers was more productive the following season than ever before — averaging 26 points per game — and with him the Suns went 55-27 and reached the 1989 Western Conference Finals.
Chambers started a revolution. More free agents followed after him and the process of team building was never the same. You can see in the chart below how successful teams, championship teams, were dependent on drafted players during the pre-free agency era, whereas players acquired through other means (free agency, trade) became more critical to championship teams during the post-free agency era.
There’s a reason Oscar Robertson spent the first ten years of his career toiling away for the Cincinnati Royals (a basketball team). He couldn’t leave! There was no such thing as a free agent back then. In fact, it wasn’t until the summer of 1988 that a new collective bargaining agreement created the concept of unrestricted free agency. Prior to that time, a player in his prime would only part ways with his team if — like the Big O — he was traded away (or, in rarer cases, via a funky mechanism akin to the modern sign-and-trade agreements). Likewise, NBA teams had basically two ways to add new players: draft a rookie or make a trade with another team. As such, success on draft day was absolutely paramount to having success on the court.
All that changed in the summer of 1988 when a 6-10 All-Star power forward out of the University of Utah became the first ever unrestricted free agent. The 29-year-old, seven-year NBA vet, Tom Chambers, left a crowded Seattle SuperSonics front court for Phoenix. He teamed up with an impressive young collection of talent — Kevin Johnson, Jeff Hornacek, and Tyrone Corbin — acquired by the Suns via the draft. The pairing was an immediate success as Chambers was more productive the following season than ever before — averaging 26 points per game — and with him the Suns went 55-27 and reached the 1989 Western Conference Finals.
Chambers started a revolution. More free agents followed after him and the process of team building was never the same. You can see in the chart below how successful teams, championship teams, were dependent on drafted players during the pre-free agency era, whereas players acquired through other means (free agency, trade) became more critical to championship teams during the post-free agency era.
