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.
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Many people have speculated that this is all this just a negotiating ploy by the players as a way to get leverage on the owners. It’s as if the players are saying, “If you don’t want to play with us then we are going to take our ball and go overseas.”
It may be a ruse by the players to force the owners to end the lockout but ultimately it would help both the players and the owners.
It is no secret that NBA Commissioner, David Stern, wants to expand the NBA globally. He has already talked about his desire to put teams in Europe. They already play a few preseason games overseas now. Can you imagine if Kobe Bryant and Deron Williams were playing in Turkey, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash were in China and Ron Artest and Amare Stoudemire were in Europe? The NBA would get about a billion dollars worth of media coverage and advertising without spending a dime.
Stern could use these “defecting” players as de facto global ambassadors for the NBA, spreading the Gospel of Stern throughout the world.
And it would be good for the players, too. Basketball, like soccer, truly is a global game. The more fans the players can create around the world translates into more jerseys sold, more endorsement deals and ultimately for more money for the player.
This is one of those cases where you have to destroy something (the 2011-12 season) in order to build something better (global NBA). The only risk the players and owners have is alienating the fans here in America. If the whole season is canceled they may lose some fans for good. But with the opportunity to add millions of new fans across the globe and make more money, it may be a risk both sides are willing to take.
