Free agency is often described as a moment, the day a market opens, or an agreement is reached. In practice, it is a process shaped by decisions made well before that day arrives.
Preparation, timing, and context all begin long before a market opens. The leverage an athlete has in that process is rarely created in the moment. It is built in advance, through the decisions and structure established beforehand.
Treating free agency as an event, rather than a process, is one of the more common ways that leverage is left on the table.
