It seems that each week the NBA lockout continues, the list of current NBA players opting to go overseas in order to play basketball steadily grows. Clubs from Europe and China are not hiding from offering lucrative contracts to entice NBA players to make the move, even if it is for a short amount of time.
With talks between the league’s owners and the NBPA at a standstill, and as more time passes since the players have been a part of competitive action, this trend will continue to rise.
Europe has been responsible for a great deal of talent in the NBA in the U.S., especially in the last two decades. The championship run last season by Dirk Nowitzki only solidified the reality of European-influenced basketball in the NBA to those who still had any lingering doubts.
As for China, basketball is on an extreme rise in popularity. Yao Ming’s stint in the NBA and the 2008 Beijing Olympics exposed China’s immense population to the attractable, exiting performances and personalities of the NBA.
However, most of the elite players in the NBA have yet to confirm or sign with an overseas team, with Deron Williams being one of the exceptions. Superstars like Kobe Bryant, Dwanye Wade and Dwight Howard have all expressed their interest in going overseas in general, even adding that they would welcome hearing offers. Other than that, no action has yet to be further developed.
Further, per the Associated Press, “The Chinese Basketball Association will restrict contracted NBA players from playing for domestic teams in the event the NBA season is canceled, but still will allow free agents, state media reported Friday.”*
China was especially appealing to superstars like Bryant, Wade and Howard because playing in China would be extremely beneficial financially to these players due to China’s market size and the great demand for the NBA by Chinese basketball fans.
Perhaps, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) is thinking what a lot of those in the basketball community are already thinking. As necessary as maintaining the player’s competitive physical and mental state is, the chance that a career could be ended in overseas play is troubling for fans of the game. This especially holds true with franchise players, who not only have a team counting on them to be healthy and prepared, but the team’s entire host city as well.
This sentiment was echoed recently by Amar’e Stoudemire when he assured the Knicks and New York City that he will only be playing for them despite the current lockout. He wrote on his personal Twitter account, “My loyalty is with the State of New York and the NYK’s.”**
Next: The Monetary Aspect
Take Kobe Bryant for example. He makes over $25 million per year under his current contract with the Lakers. If you do the math, that’s over $2 million per month, close to $3 million per month for actual game time (including pre/regular/post-season). The Chinese Basketball Association club Shanxi Zhongyu reportedly offered Bryant $1.5 million per month to play for their club.
Europe hasn’t and will not be offering the same type of contracts offered by China or the NBA. The average team salary for a team in Europe is about $17 million, with teams in Greece, Russia, Spain and Italy often having bigger budgets. The highest-paid European players make between $2.8 million to $5.3 million [per year].*** This is a drastic difference from the NBA considering the average rookie salary last season in the NBA was a little over $3 million.
However, pulling off this deal would be extremely challenging since the CBA ruled out employing contracted players. Yet, it is not the financial aspect that makes the idea of franchise players going overseas to play during the lockout a bad idea. It is the real possibility that doing so may jeopardize these franchise players’ physical health and focus internally and of their NBA teammates.
Going overseas may be financially beneficial from venues outside of a player’s contract (brand marketing), but franchise players usually have a mentality of winning a championship. This especially is true with Kobe Bryant. Since Bryant is well into his veteran years in the NBA his focus should be on leading the current Laker team back to the Finals.
The likelihood of the Lakers returning next season with the same roster is becoming more of a reality. This is because of the expectation that all NBA teams will have to deal with a hard salary cap as a consequence of lockout negotiations.
With the Lakers’ already having the highest yearly payroll in the NBA ($91+ million), trades and acquisitions are going to be challenging for the organization once the lockout continues. So solely focusing on bringing home another championship to L.A. should be priority number one for Bryant.
Teams and the fans especially invest their time, money and support in franchise players. Therefore, it may be beneficial for all if franchise players remain stateside in their quest for playing basketball until the lockout ends.
*Source: ESPNLA.com
**Source: SportingNews.com
***Source: LIVESTRONG.com