Taking off my GM hat for a minute...
Even as a regular player, I always took minimum deals because, at the end of the day, if I'm on a team, I want them to be competitive. If I'm taking more than minimum, that's less money they can use to lure in FAs that do care about money and/or put it back into the OL. I can make money in other ways. For me, it's all about being competitive and taking anything over minimum is a sub-optimal choice from my viewpoint. It has nothing to do with being "nice"; it's an advantage for my team. And that's exactly the intent.
As a GM, I actually view it differently. I try to offer my guys more than minimum and/or at least discuss larger deals. I've never been one to pay FAs $10 mil, but my overall philosophy is I'd rather pay all of my actives a little extra and spread the money around. If someone wants to take minimum, I'm fine with signing them to a minimum deal as I share the same philosophy with my own player, but that's their choice; it's not something I push on anyone else.
Ultimately, the real issue is that players can make money outside of contracts. If not for that, I'm sure high earners would chase the largest deals possible. However, that kind of change would be very difficult to implement at this point. Maybe impossible.
EDIT: Just to be clear, this is something that gets discussed A LOT behind the scenes. FAs are often more likely to sign for smaller deals (if not min) to be part of a winning team while less competitive teams have thrown out ridiculously massive offers just to get scoffed at. This isn't like the NFL where someone will sign with the Bucs pver the Pats just for a few extra million dollars. And unfortunately, any attempt to enforce the appeal of a larger deal (such as a 50% increase to resign with your old team once FA starts) removes player choice, which usually hurts user retention.
Even as a regular player, I always took minimum deals because, at the end of the day, if I'm on a team, I want them to be competitive. If I'm taking more than minimum, that's less money they can use to lure in FAs that do care about money and/or put it back into the OL. I can make money in other ways. For me, it's all about being competitive and taking anything over minimum is a sub-optimal choice from my viewpoint. It has nothing to do with being "nice"; it's an advantage for my team. And that's exactly the intent.
As a GM, I actually view it differently. I try to offer my guys more than minimum and/or at least discuss larger deals. I've never been one to pay FAs $10 mil, but my overall philosophy is I'd rather pay all of my actives a little extra and spread the money around. If someone wants to take minimum, I'm fine with signing them to a minimum deal as I share the same philosophy with my own player, but that's their choice; it's not something I push on anyone else.
Ultimately, the real issue is that players can make money outside of contracts. If not for that, I'm sure high earners would chase the largest deals possible. However, that kind of change would be very difficult to implement at this point. Maybe impossible.
EDIT: Just to be clear, this is something that gets discussed A LOT behind the scenes. FAs are often more likely to sign for smaller deals (if not min) to be part of a winning team while less competitive teams have thrown out ridiculously massive offers just to get scoffed at. This isn't like the NFL where someone will sign with the Bucs pver the Pats just for a few extra million dollars. And unfortunately, any attempt to enforce the appeal of a larger deal (such as a 50% increase to resign with your old team once FA starts) removes player choice, which usually hurts user retention.
![[Image: welcomeBraxtonEast.png?ex=677e7b1f&is=67...y=lossless]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/357281973594619905/1319836335887880192/welcomeBraxtonEast.png?ex=677e7b1f&is=677d299f&hm=c03a86226787bfca2f2d024eb23c800c6f1ecd647532e0419a9d0218636d40e4&=&format=webp&quality=lossless)
![[Image: baby-yoda-by-jango-sm.png]](https://i.ibb.co/1rgfYXP/baby-yoda-by-jango-sm.png)
Thanks to Jangorhino for the sig.
