David Stern takes a swipe at NBA players heading overseas – NBA Update
David Stern has revealed in a recent interview that he believes the recent trend of NBA players heading overseas to play professional basketball, will only harm their interests, rather than further them. He also dismissed the notion
that the practice will put the league under pressure to quickly come to deal over the new CBA.
The NBA Commissioner has finally spoken out after staying silent for a long time. FIBA, the world’s governing body for basketball, recently declared that it will allow NBA players to play overseas as long as they secure an escape
clause in their contracts. This came on the back of increasingly encouraging statements by the National Basketball Players Association with regard to players making a move to Europe or elsewhere for the duration of the lockout.
Stern clearly disagreed with the NBPA and named his reasons. The first and foremost in Stern’s eyes was the lack of money. He argued that the NBA players collectively made over $2 billion last year. In Europe though, not many will
be able to find work as the leagues there can only accommodate so many players. If a large number of them do get contracts over there, they would still collectively be making only a couple of hundred million dollars.
That might still be a lot of money but it is meagre compared to what the NBA pays them.
Stern continued, maintaining that he did not feel pressured by it and stated that the practice of playing overseas could actually harm unity among NBA stars,
"And in fact it threatens to do two things. It threatens to split the union because only the high-paying stars, only the superstars, will be able to get any significant number of dollars, and those dollars are so small compared
to what they're leaving on the table in the U.S. that it just means they're going to be making a few more dollars than the non-superstars, and I think it's going to split the union. So I'm not a big fan of it, but not because it's a threat, but because it
subjects our players to unnecessary risk and treats them disparately."
David Stern’s remarks do hold water, but they also reveal an insight into his plans for the current labour dispute. The NBA players and the NBPA have clearly stated that the moves abroad are short term measures, designed to keep
fit and not be idle until a solution is reached to the CBA dispute.
However, judging by his comments, it seems that the NBA does not intend to resolve the matter any time soon, and as the players have been complaining for some time, the owners and the league has not come to the negotiating table
in good faith.
As it stands now, the lockout seems set to cost NBA games or the whole season.
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