Is Your Favorite NBA Player Defecting? (PHOTOS)

With no end in sight for the NBA lockout and with both sides very far from reaching an agreement, many players are considering the option of playing basketball overseas.

While many foreign players dream of coming to the NBA you rarely see an NBA player, in his prime, talk about playing overseas.

Normally the only time you would see an NBA player head overseas was when his career was over in the NBA (see Vince Carter and Allen Iverson).

With the lockout in full effect, that is no longer the case.

Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets fired the first shot and signed a contract to play for Turkish team Besiktas if the lockout continues passed the start of the NBA season. And other stars are following suit.

The Orlando Magic’s center Dwight Howard said he would consider playing in China if the lockout continued. Ron Artest said he may play in Europe. You can add Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire to the “thinking about it” camp as well. And it has recently been reported that Kobe Bryant has been in negotiations with Besiktas to join Williams on the team. The team would have to find a new sponsor to pay Kobe’s $1,000,000 per month salary demands so it doesn’t seem too likely that he would play there. But the fact that, arguably, the best player in the game is willing to play overseas should make you sit up and take notice.