Still not sure I follow the whole Reed arc. I think it’s
(1) Sixers released him bc his contract didn’t guarantee after they failed to make the EC semifinals due to the very silly clause the Jazz put in their RFA term sheet that the Sixers matched
(2) the Pistons grabbed him on waivers, taking over the contract he signed, which was still not guaranteed
(3) bc it wasn’t guaranteed, they were able to waive him without owing the rest of his contracted salary
(4) he then cleared waivers which made him effectively a free agent
(5) he chose to sign a vet min with the Pistons
The alternative was they could have cut him and not re-signed him and then he wouldn’t be getting paid at all. Sucks for him to an extent, but it’s the nature of the business and he didn’t need to re-sign with Detroit if he felt some type of way about it.
Reed gets paid with more guaranteed money. His previous contract aren’t guaranteed from my understanding. Technically, he gets paid less but not really.
Pistons saved his contract in the first place by picking him up off waivers in the offseason as it was unlikely another team would pick up that contract and he’d have to sign for minimum somewhere. So Reed gets a few months of the higher pay, now gets a few months of guaranteed minimum. Kind of sucks yes but that’s the life of these fringe guys that don’t have guarantees.
There is no format change that will solve “the ASG takes place 50+ games into the season, players are exhausted and would rather have the rest, and definitely don’t want to short-wire their team’s season by getting hurt.”
With another NBA Cup in the books, I will note that every game I saw in the elimination rounds (which I think was all but 2?) was really good, the players very clearly push hard for this, and last night’s game was a defensive masterclass from Milwaukee, with a genuinely classic Giannis performance.
We may think the courts are dumb and uniforms confusing, etc., but the actual hoops is really good. I mark it a success.