Agree, it seems very lopsided in favor of the player.The long contracts thing is interesting.
Not sure if it's possible under the CBA framework but I can also foresee clubs putting in financial penalties for not seeing the contract out.
I wouldn't be surprised that if they don't, in the future you'll find that guys who've been on insane money for 3-4 years already are happy to just not play or retire if a club denies their trade request. Most will have built up a decent amount to live comfortably anyway.
If their on a long contract they can play sh*t and still get full payment. Then even when contracted they'll request trades to clubs of their choice which reduces bargaining power of the club with the contract.
Maybe clubs need to start looking how these contracts are structured (if they aren't already), where the players can legally only ask for trade and goes to the club who makes the best deal. And/or money claw back for player not wanting to complete their contract to protect clubs when frontloading. Theres also the cost to the clubs in their planning, they've recruited believing that contracted players will be there.