EuroLeague wants to keep its young players away from NBA
The CEO of the EuroLeague has revealed that the organization wants to keep the young European players away from the NBA as long as they can. Jordi Bertomeu said the organization is looking at ways to make that happen and has revealed
that he even met with David Stern, the NBA Commissioner, to discuss the matter.
The influx of European players into the NBA started in the 1990s and has grown to quite a large level, a fact borne out when the majority of the top 7 picks made in the NBA draft were this year were Europeans.
The reason behind the increase is the success of players who have come over to the United States and established themselves as dominant star players. These include Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks. The German has been a regular
season MVP, been to the NBA Finals twice, won once and has been named this season’s NBA Finals MVP. Similarly Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers is a premier power forward in the NBA with multiple NBA World Championships.
The success of these stars has encouraged NBA owners and scouts to put more faith in young European players. The EuroLeague however sees that as a talent drain for them with players leaving without even having reached their full
potential.
Jordi Bertomeu doesn’t want to see that happen too much and says they are looking at ways to cut it down. Bertomeu revealed that he had a meeting with David Stern over a year ago where he discussed the situation with the NBA Commissioner.
“We made a proposal once we knew that negotiations [with the players' union] had to take place,” Bertomeu said. “We presented a document of elements that could be included in the negotiations between the NBA and the players’ union.”
“We can’t give too many concrete details. But part of the proposal included a formula that included the elements of age, rookie salaries and how the rookie salaries computed into the salary cap. It was designed to create an incentive
for the players to stay in Europe.”
Such a system could prove another sticking point in the already gloomy NBA labour talks. The dispute about a new CBA has been going on for a while. The players already thing the league has put forward unjust proposals and they
certainly wouldn’t like one whose outlines the EuroLeague CEO described.
What that would essentially mean is that the NBA owners would cut down their risk as they will draft fully developed players. The development cost would be borne by other teams. For the players though it equates to lost salaries
for all the years they would be barred from entering the league.
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