This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Colleague Michael C. Lewis found an eye-opening item by former Detroit Piston John Salley on deadspin.com.
Salley talks about playing in Miami, after he left the Pistons. With the Heat, he was teammates with Rony Seikaly, who Utah Jazz fans remember best for not reporting after a trade midway through the 1997-98 season.
The Jazz sent Greg Foster, Chris Morris and a first-round pick to Orlando (his new team) for Seikaly, who was extremely talented and could have helped tip the scale in Utah's favor during the close NBAFinals against Chicago in 1998.
The problem: Seikaly didn't want to leave Florida for Utah and the trade voided two days after it was announced, with Foster and Morris awkwardly returning to Utah.
On deadspin,com, Salley writes: " ... Seikaly was one of my guys. He knew I wasn't there to take his job; I was there to play power forward.
"One day, he says to me, 'Hey, man, how do you play all the way into June?' Remember, I'd been with the Pistons for six seasons and made the playoffs every year. I say, 'What'd you say?' He goes, 'The playoffs, third round, you guys play all the way to, like, June 28.'
"I say, 'Uh, that's what you do when you win a championship.' [He says], 'But you only get paid from November to April. That's taking too much of the summer, man. This is ridiculous.' I say, 'Well,playing for a championship is about pride. It's not about money.' He says: 'It has to be, because this is some bull——. You guys play an extra two months.'
"I was like, 'Holy [expletive]. I didn't even realize it. I was playing an extra two-and-a-half months for free.'"