Players Choosing Europe Over NBA - Should the NBA Worry?
Recently Bostjan Nachbar singed a 3 year 14 million dollar contract with a Russian pro team and his exit has signaled a true sign of the times in professional basketball. No longer is the NBA the league that offers the most money.
In the past players wanted to come to the NBA because it was where the best competition is and that is clearly true still, but what has changed is the competition for these players. European basketball just keeps getting bigger as a result of the success of the NBA and the leagues are getting more and more money to spend. Just this year alone Carlos Delfino, Jorge Garbojosa and Juan Carlos Navarro have opted to go play in Europe because they were offered more money. Clearly, playing against the best competition isn’t nearly as important to these guys as the money is.
Do you remember when Doug Flutie was destroying the Canadian Football League? I know it’s off topic a little but stay with me for a second. Flutie killed the Canadian football league and was getting paid a ton of money but it didn’t stop him from playing in the NFL and never reaching the stardom he had in the CFL. Flutie wanted to play against the best and made enough money in Canada that he wanted to really give the NFL a shot and was a good NFL quarterback. It also helped that he was from here.
What it boils down to for me is the fact that I don’t think the NBA should care of worry. If Nachbar wants to go play in Europe then he can take his 8 points a game during a career year and go. Same with the other guys. If we lose players long term to NBA that are American stars then we should start to worry but that won’t happen. It’s the Doug Flutie within the Americans that will always keep them coming back even when we shun them because they supposedly aren’t good enough. American kids want to play in the NBA because it’s their league with their fans and their people. If the Euros want to go home to play and get paid very well to do it then I can’t fault them doing that at all because I’d do the same thing.
The NBA fan doesn’t hurt from this because the NBA fan follows kids from the McDonald’s all american game to college and to the pros and they get there with a built in fan base and following. The foreigners come in at a decided disadvantage that way and with their roster spot replaced by an American player it can’t really hurt the interest in the league. The only thing it brings to question is that the NBA will start to lose the stigma as having the best players in the world. With more and more guys opting to stay in their homelands we won’t have that anymore. I’m ok with that.
