So back when you could make a legal longer contract, teams offered the max.

Generally the guys who were offered the max were the guys one step down from being truly worth it. Someone like David Lee, with his Warriors contract. When he signed it, I mean, okay, maybe he wasn’t really worth it, but no-one in their right mind would have said “we want this guy for 7 years at this price.”

But deals like Beal’s or Westbrook’s or Wall’s - even if it’s a bad idea, not offering the max length was seen as “we don’t really mean it.”

It was ownership who was arguing for shorter and shorter contracts until recently. They clearly benefitted players.

In an era of rapidly rising cap and player empowerment, there’s more incentive for players to take shorter deals, especially at the very top. You can be KD, and even an injury isn’t going to stop you from getting a max deal.