Loyalty Is Dying: LeBron James Advised Chris Paul To Demand Trade

LeBron James continues to put his fingerprints on the most-hyped offseason in NBA history.

Brian Windhorst, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, broke this story via his twitter account. While you can argue whether or not this is true, you can't help but realise that the concept of loyalty in the NBA is dying - and fast.

Long gone are the days of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Welcome a new breed of NBA Superstars, who seem only to care about winning, not the fans, or the city that drafted them.

Is loyalty now a dying concept in the realms of the NBA? The first new breed of superstars (I'm labelling 2003 Draft onwards as new breed) to showcase this lack of loyalty were LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

The story is all too familiar now. LeBron broke the hearts of Cleveland fans thanks to his "decision", and sent his team back to the lottery, in what will surely be remembered as one of the biggest acts of betrayal in sports history.

Chris Bosh got it lucky. With LeBron coping all the Heat (no pun intended) he flew relatively under the radar. But, when your star leaves you, and the team didn't even make the playoffs, you're looking in pretty bad shape. Poor Toronto.

Now Chris Paul is demanding a trade. He wants to jump ship, and join a contender, whether it be Dallas, Portland, Orlando or whoever else is in discussions now. Which ever team CP3 joins, if indeed he is traded, will automatically jump to contender status (or even increased odds of a 'chip if you are Orlando.)

But is it really good for the NBA?

The word parity comes to mind. If this Paul trade goes down, the Hornets will be dwelling in the lottery for seasons to come. And the NBA will see another powerhouse created, at the expense of another franchise.

Is that really what the NBA needs right now?

While you have players like Kevin Durant and Rudy Gay, who signed extensions with their respective teams this summer, you can't help but think this pattern of dis-loyalty, and the allure of being a champion, will catch on with the masses.

If this is true, the name of the game won't be trying to build through young players.

Hell, maybe as of now teams are plotting just as Pat Riley had plotted. Teams now may take the express route to a championship by clearing cap room to throw at free agents.

It worked for Miami, who's to say it won't happen again?

But one thing is for sure. The days of franchise faces are coming to an end. When the likes of Kobe, Tim Duncan and Paul Pierce retire, who knows if we'll ever see any high caliber player remain with the same team for the rest of his career (outside of Dwyane Wade, - who probably would of left if a super team wasn't available and, as it seems, Kevin Durant).

Let's hope that players take note of what certain players have done this off-season. Not the likes of LeBron or Bosh, but the likes of Durant and Rudy Gay.

Loyalty is what the NBA needs right now, not players chasing rings.