AKA raising the price in sign-and-trade talks or limit him by burying him on the roster which holds him back as a player.
Azubuike will take the most money he is offered. I never was much of a believer in agents pulling sh*t like this when teams play hardball with their clients, especially no-name type players. You think Azubuike will just tell him "yeah sure go ahead and risk my entire career because last season Golden State did what was best for their team and in doing so upset CJ fuckin Watson". If you're going to start ignoring the tried and true phrase of "it's just business" then how about CJ considering the fact that without us he wouldn't even be in the league and probably would never have gotten a fraction of the playing time that he did end up getting. Same goes for Azu but I don't see Azu pulling this stuff. Hes already been an RFA once and he went about it the right way; go out and get an offer sheet, bring it back to GS, wait for them to match or not match, shut up and move on. We don't owe him anything. If he wants a multi-year deal he needs to find a team willing to offer him one. Then its out of his hands where he ends up but hey, that's the rules of the business. If he doesn't like it he can go back to the D-League or play in Europe. If it was up to me I'd let him walk for any contract exceeding 1 year and the minimum salary.
This article seems like hype to me. "They'll return the favor..." like Azuibuike will turn down $$ mils from GS just to get Watson's back? It's hilarious that this franchise rescued both of these scrubs from the depths of YMCA ball and made them who they are today. Instead of threatening the Warriors, these two players should be thanking the Warriors. But it's all hype anyway. CJ doesn't deserve shit, and he'll go somewhere else and be a nobody and in two years we'll resign Azu to a mid-level deal and that will be the end of it.
Oh wow. An agent with two bench players are trying to 'flex' his muscle against Warriors? Did he realize that he is representing CJ Watson and Azubuike, not Randolph? And, if I am Azubuike, I will seriously consider changing the agent, when his agent is trying to get a good deal on CJ by using him. Returning the favor? Riiiight... Maybe, Warriors should consider screwing CJ just for the heck of it...
What a scoop! This makes no sense, FWIW. No agent worth his salt allows the negotiations with one of his clients spill over and affect the negotiations with another. Azubuike will determine his priorities coming into free agency (money, location, etc.) and if the Warriors satisfy it, his agent will have to let him accept it. If it ever came out that an agent was screwing over one client because of another, that dude would take such a huge reputation/business hit.
I've heard of agents asking for "favors" before, but usually it has to do with pushing a big name client to a team if the team agrees to draft a player higher than they should go or to get a lower tiered client a contract. The Warriors were actually in this situation a few seasons ago when Yao Ming was coming off his rookie contract. I think it was Duffy brokering the deal. I forget the player involved, but Duffy agreed to push Yao to Golden State if the Warriors agreed to sign one of his other clients. I'll see if I can dig up the article. This Watson-Bukie story doesn't make a lot of sense though. Neither player is highly coveted and there's far too much risk on the agents career to take this gamble.
Watson is in the driver's seat, here. He is a proven talent and he can dictate where he goes. Similar to when Vince Carter publicly demanded a trade. Watson is the stud here, and he holds all the chips. The Warriors should do whatever they can to make sure he is happy, whether it is pay him the max, sign-n-trade, or just promise not match an RFA contract so he can go help a team win a championship.
