Sports Look

July 23, 2008

Sports Look: Europe and The NBA

The NBA is going to face a hard reality soon.  That reality is that there is money over in Europe and American players are going to be more than willing to take that money.  It’s a shift that has happened slowly but something that was destined to happen eventually. 

The first shot that would lead to Americans going overseas was the NBA salary cap.  No longer could teams give play #10 on the roster 4 million dollars, they have to pay them the veteran minimum.  For players that haven’t been in the league long, it’s not much money compared to what they can receive overseas. 

The second shot that is going to lead to more and more players going overseas was the one year out of high school requirement.  Why would a player go play college ball for free, letting a school make money off of them when they can go overseas for a year, get paid, player at a higher level and then come back to the NBA?  Why even come back to the NBA if they aren’t going to be a lottery pick?

Brandon Jennings is the first big name college player to opt out of going to college for a year and decided to go overseas and get paid instead.  The NBA is hurting themselves on this one because now college players will stay overseas.  The college fans will actually see their teams get hurt by this situation because their potential players will now be going after the money overseas. 

The biggest blow to the NBA has come with Josh Childress deciding to take a $20 million dollar deal for 3 years with the Greek powerhouse Olympiakos.  While Childress isn’t even a starter, he was the sixth man on a playoff team.  He had many teams that would have liked him to be on their team but didn’t want to deal with the Atlanta Hawks and his restricted status.  Childress will now make more money than he would in the US, have fewer taxes and have his living expenses taken care of and a full time car and driver.

There are many perks to international teams that US teams can’t provide.  Unless you’re a big name star you won’t stand out in the US.  Childress can go overseas and be the big dog.  He will have name recognition, be loved by the city, enjoy seeing the world and get paid more than he would in the US. 

Childress isn’t the only player that has signed with a European team this off-season.  While most Americans won’t recognize these players’ names, they were still rotation players on teams in the NBA.  Marcus Fizer, Esteban Batista, Rodney White, Carlos Delfino, Jorge Garbajosa, Boston Nachbar, Primoz Brezec, Juan Carlos Navarro all at some point have played and contributed in the NBA.  Juan Carlos Navarro was a starter for the Memphis Grizzlies and had many interested suitors in the NBA but decided that he would rather go home and play.

This trend will only continue as more and more European teams have money to spend on free agents and basketball gets bigger overseas.  NBA teams will start seeing the free agent market shrink as players go for more money and opportunities overseas.  While most players dream is to play in the NBA, once they have fulfilled that dream, they would like to cash in and if that means going overseas, so be it.

What this means for the NBA is that they need to re-evaluate the one year out of high school rule to see if it’s actually going to hurt college basketball and eventually the NBA.

NBA teams will also start seeing their 6-15 guys leaving and going overseas.  This is going to weekend the talent pool in the NBA, making teams play guys that should be 10-15 on the depth chart at the 6-9 spot.  Giving teams much weaker benches than most already have. 
How does this affect the NBDL?  I’ve talked to a few players that say that the NBDL just isn’t an option.  They want to live a certain lifestyle and the NBDL doesn’t pay them enough to continue to live that lifestyle.  The NBDL takes one of the biggest blows from European teams.  Travis Hanson was picked out of BYU by the Atlanta Hawks in the second round. He played one year for the team before going overseas to make more money.  Travis is an excellent example of how the NBA is losing lower tiered players to international teams.  Hanson is excellent example of what the NBDL was built for and if all the US players that are now playing International were all in the NBDL, that league would really be a developmental league for NBA teams.  As it stands now, it is barely a stepping stone for future NBA players.

Could we eventually see someone like a LeBron James or Kobe Bryant go overseas and play for a team?  What if Nike wanted them to play a year overseas?  What if Kobe near the end of his career decides to go to Italy to win a championship?  Is there a day in the future when NBA stars follow David Beckham’s example and go over the pond?

Scott Church has been covering the NBA for six years.  He resides in Utah and you can contact him at Scott@categoryonegames.com. 

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