Blake Griffin and Kevin Love trying to stay connected with fans – NBA Update
While the NBA owners and the player’s union continue to fight over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and the prospect of a settlement seems nowhere in sight, the people who are getting frustrated the most are the fans.
For the game followers, it is just a fight between the millionaires and the billionaires and all that is happening is them losing a source of entertainment.
There are some NBA stars, who understand this dilemma.
Kevin Love and Blake Griffin recently expressed their frustration with the NBA lockout and said the players are doing their best to keep in close contact with fans by appearing in exhibition games all across the country.
The young All-Stars have been part of many such games. The NBA lockout meant that no sanctioned games were to be played and even the Las Vegas summer league was cancelled. The players though made up for it by playing in many different summer pro-am leagues.
Not only young stars like Love and Griffin, but established NBA super stars such as Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony have been making the rounds this off season on the pro-am circuit. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant have all headlined exhibition games as the players look to keep their fan base intact during the NBA lockout.
"Just the simple message that we want to play and we're ready to play," said Los Angeles Clippers Griffin about the games' message to fans, as reported on ESPN.
"I think a lot of players have been doing a good job of keeping the slogan up that basketball never dies," Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love said. "And with all these games they've been playing, trying to integrate the fans and really keep them focused and keep them happy with basketball.”
The Timberwolves star, who has become a mainstay of his team and won the NBA rebounding title last season, said the players did not want to antagonize fans due to the labour dispute.
The NBA owners and the National Basketball Players Association have been dealing with the matter and holding regular meetings to try and find a solution to the crisis. They have been unsuccessful so far, which has cost the NBA training camps, pre-season and the first two weeks of regular season games.
All the while fans become more frustrated. Love said many of the matters were out of their hands, but argued that NBA players have been out and about trying to put on a show for their fans. Only the league can make or cancel NBA games, but the players can still play.
"It might not be NBA basketball, but you're getting a chance to see a lot of NBA players in these games. Just trying to keep them excited as much as possible, so when the time comes, we're right where we left off as far as the fan base goes."
Both players are hoping a solution to the dispute is found soon, with David Stern having issued a Tuesday deadline before more games are lost.
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