The Golden State Warriors' Stephen Jackson wants a trade. He wants to go to a contender. But just last offseason, he signed a lengthy and relatively expensive extension to stay with the Warriors. An extension that makes him a very hard to trade, especially right now since so many teams are saving cap space for the 2010 offseason. Apparently, he doesn't care that the Warriors overpaid to keep him (and he agreed to stay), he wants out.

The Jackson case in one that seems to be plaguing the NBA. Guys will take the money and then suddenly whine that the team that really wasn't that good when they signed the contract isnt' that good. It's annoying for fans because now they have to deal with an unhappy Stephen Jackson. Even worse, Jackson has named five teams he wants to go to as if he's good enough to make those kinds of demands. Now if Stephen really meant it, he could agree to a one dollar buy out of his contract. That way he gets to be a free agent and Golden State isn't stuck with his contract on their salary cap. But he isn't going to do that because that could cost him 15 million dollars.

The biggest problem with this is that it's just one case in an ever-growing problem; a problem that could lead to a strike when the next Collective Bargaining Agreement needs to be negotiated. The issue is guaranteed contract. In football (which doesn't have guaranteed deals), the Warriors could just waive him, not owe him anything, and his contract wouldn't count against their salary cap. The problem with that, however, is that non-guaranteed contracts also allow holdouts, as players can demand a new contract after a great season. In basketball, I think this could be a huge problem so non-guaranteed deals aren't really an option.

I believe that guaranteed contracts are the way to go but what players and GMs/Owners need to realize that the onus in on themselves to make this work. Stephen Jackson commented to Dime Magazine, "At this point, I'm 31 years old. I have four or five years left. I want to be in a situation where I can continually be in the playoffs and get another ring. So that's where my mind is at now." Well, why wasn't his mind there last year when he was 30 years old? Did he really think the Warriors were going to continually be in the playoffs? The team had made the post-season once in the last 14 years and they had just let their captain and best player (Baron Davis) leave via free agency. When Jackson re-signed with the Warriors, he had to have known that this was a team that was going to have to fight to remain mediocre.

This isn't to say that all of the blame is on the players. It's annoying to listen to owners whine about exorbitant salaries when they are the ones who keep offering ridiculous contracts to people. The owners really have nobody to blame for most of these issues but themselves. Stephen Jackson's contract extension was a bad move when the Warriors agreed to it and it's not getting any better. Owners basically want a system that can save them from themselves. Actually hiring competent general managers or spending their money wisely seems like something that is just not possible.

In the end, either Stephen Jackson needs to realize that he made his bed and just needs to lie in it or this situation could get ugly. And not just ugly for the Warriors but for the NBA and their dwindling fan base.