Memphis Grizzlies star Zach Randolph puts his contract on the line to save NBA season
“Money is not everything”.
Kudos to Memphis Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph for proving this statement true. Only recently, he signed a $71 four year extension contract with his team but now is willing to sacrifice it all for the good of game.
Randolph has earned respect of many other players by taking this bold step. The 6 ft 9 believes NBA should immediately put an end to this lockout as it is not helping anyone. He has sided with the players union and is willing to
miss the complete 2011-2012 NBA season and hence his contract money. Fair deal or no deal is what he belies in.
"If that's a sacrifice we have to make (in order) to make it better for the future then, yeah, I'm OK with it," Randolph said in a telephone interview. "I'm definitely prepared financially."
Randolph was the standout player for Grizzles this past season. He scored his playoff career high 31 points in the decisive game against San Antonio Spurs and then later beat his own record by scoring 34 points in the game against
Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of playoff series. Unfortunately, Grizzlies fell in the second round after losing the 7th game of the series.
If the deadlock ends, and the next NBA season starts, this would be Randolph’s 11th NBA season. Training camps were supposed to start soon but got delayed for indefinite time and all the pre seasons games too got cancelled.
Randolph won’t be attending the union’s regional meeting today but he has guaranteed his full support to player’s association executive director Billy Hunter.
"I sent a text to Billy Hunter two weeks ago and told him he has my full support," Randolph said. "I'm definitely supporting the union. And we all should. This is something I've never been through so it's frustrating, but all of
the players should stick together."
At the moment, Randolph is focusing on his fitness. He featured in an Indy Pro Am game last Saturday and will be coming back to Memphis this week to work out with his Grizzlies teammates. No matter how long this menace called lockout
stays, Randolph and his team mates aim to continue practicing in order to keep the momentum they gained after reaching the Western Conference semi finals this past season.
Randolph is close to his Spanish team mate Marc Gasol. When Randolph was asked about his plan of action in case the lockout does not end, he said he would first wait till the November and then start exploring his options. Randolph
also added that he would be keeping an eye on what Marc Gasol does and would gladly accompany him wherever he plans to go.
His move to support players union rather than NBA might hurt him financially but it’s clear that the lion hearted Randolph will never bow down to injustice.
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