A Cloud of Suspicion Over Monta Ellis' Ankle

September 3, 2008 3:26 PM

ESPN's Marc Stein:

Multiple league sources have told ESPN.com that Ellis had several cuts and abrasions on his leg -- atypical of an injury sustained on a basketball court. ... Two experts in sports medicine consulted by ESPN.com, granted anonymity because they aren't privy to the specifics of Ellis' condition, said that a torn deltoid ligament is rarely seen in basketball. The deltoid ligament, the sources explained, is on the medial (big toe) side of the ankle while the structures typically involved in a high ankle sprain are on the opposite (lateral) side of the ankle. Involvement of the deltoid suggests a more serious rotational injury than those commonly associated with the NBA, the sources said. ...

If Ellis is found to have sustained his injuries by taking part in non-basketball activities prohibited in his contract, Golden State could theoretically attempt to void the new six-year, $66 million deal signed by the 22-year-old on July 24. But such a drastic step is considered highly unlikely as long as the injuries cause no lasting damage, given Ellis' standing as perhaps Golden State's most prized asset in the wake of Baron Davis' free-agent defection to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The more likely punishments -- assuming Ellis makes a full recovery from his injuries -- are a fine or, at worst, a suspension.

A similar scenario played out in the 2006-07 season when Los Angeles Lakers forward Vladimir Radmanovic admitted to suffering a separated shoulder while snowboarding in Utah during the All-Star break, some five days after initially telling the Lakers that he slipped on an icy street while carrying a coffee. Radmanovic was fined $500,000, nearly 10 percent of his 2007-08 salary of $5.6 million.

Here's what this is about, right? There is language in standard NBA contracts prohibiting skiing, skydiving, riding motorcylces and various other things known to be dangerous.

That's what's on the table.

Here's what I can't decide: Are those clauses good?

I get it. I understand that a team has made a massive investment in a player's health and well-being, and they want to impress upon the player, in writing, the need to protect that investment.

But let's be honest: These clauses have nothing to do with the most common ways players get hurt. Players are injured all the time, usually by playing basketball. Players are also hurt by poor training habits, car accidents, hospital-borne infections, and weird incidents on boats. I'm sure someone could write you 5,000 strong words about bad diet, alcohol consumption, a lack of stretching, excessive airplane travel, or too little sleep impacting player performance more than riding motorcycles.Monta Ellis

Those other things aren't banned, though. And why not? In some cases such a ban would be impractical -- no team can ban basketball, of course, or flying a lot. The main reason those things aren't banned is because that kind of prohibition -- what if they banned cookies? -- would be insulting. It's onerous. It makes the team look like a bunch of jerks, and players and their agents would not be comfortable signing it.

Besides, don't you just know that no matter what you put in that contract, most players will have some cookies? That's just something people do. Cookies may, in fact, hurt performance, team value, and all of that. Pretending they won't is not really making the team better.

No, you're just giving the team owner more power. Just about everyone will eat some cookies, and so when they do, the team gets the option to try to terminate the contract (over the objections of the players association, presumably), fine the player, or extract some other kind of negotiated something or other. The team gets leverage.

Laker Vladimir Radmanovic earned the nickname "snowflake" by snowboarding. His contract reportedly banned skiing and not snowboarding, so there would have been a fight if the team had tried to sever ties entirely. Yet the team got to fine him a half-million dollars, and there was a general outpouring of "what an idiot" sentiment.

But step back for a minute. Think about the young, healthy, and wealthy people you may know or hear about. I would bet that a huge percentage of them have done something like snowboarding, riding motorcycles, or skydiving. They're not crazy, either. Done properly, those are legal and common activities, the kinds of things millions of people do every year, if not every day.

I have personally witnessed former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson tooling around at big motorcycle rallies, and he promotes motorcycling every chance he gets. Former Sixer owner Pat Croce -- who made his fortune helping people get healthy -- loves him some motorcycles, even though he was once very badly injured on a ride.

So, am I supposed to believe that guys like Tommy Thompson and Pat Croce are responsible adults, while, say, Jay Williams is someone who takes unacceptable risks?

Or are they all three fairly normal people, one of whom has a job that is wrapped up with some onerous legalese?

Short term, none of it matters. If you signed a contract saying you'd stay off the skis, you had better stay off the skis, or live with the consequences.

But in the long term, I suspect the NBA would not be a much more dangerous place if players were allowed to do the things normal people do. And if Monta Ellis is found to have ridden a motorcycle or jumped out of an airplane, I won't be convinced that he's a maniac.

(Photo: Rocky Widner/Getty Images)

Golden State Warriors, Basketball History, League-Wide Issues, Monta Ellis

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I think the Warriors are trying to sell tickets