NBA stars playing the waiting game on foreign moves – Lockout News
A number of NBA players are now seriously considering offers from foreign basketball clubs as the NBA lockout enters its third month. With superstars like Deron Williams already playing abroad and the likes of Kobe Bryant, Dwyane
Wade and Dwight Howard seriously considering, time is fast running out for the NBA owners to conform to a win-win deal.
They are some players though, who have been playing a waiting game, but it is not known how long they can be patient.
John Wall, the No.1 draft pick for the Washington Wizards and a rising NBA point guard, is one of those.
At the moment, Wall is spending his time in the gym, or playing pro-am games, such as the one he participated in on Saturday.
The guard was present in Indianapolis for a charity game that also gave NBA players a chance to get together and flex some muscles. When asked about the prospects of a move overseas, Wall said he was still willing to hang around.
"Maybe down the road, but not right now,"
It’s unclear how long the “right now” will last. The NBA formally announced the cancellation of the Training Camps on Friday. The Camps were scheduled to begin on October 3rd, but won’t be anymore and there is still
no indication when they will be held. The same is the case with around 40 odd NBA sanctioned exhibition games that serve as a pre-season. They too were cancelled.
What that means is that unless by some miracle, a deal in principle between the NBA owners and the players union is agreed this week, the start of the NBA season is all set to be delayed.
How much will it be delayed? Will there also be games lost? Those are questions no one wants to answer right now.
The players would rather play in, and talk about games;
"I don't know how many games we'll miss or how long we'll be locked out," Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague said. "But this going to have to do because it's the only way to play against the best talent and be at an NBA level when
it (the lockout) ends."
Another player when asked, also tried to stay away from the topic of lockout and lost NBA games;
"The best thing about games like this is that all the guys realize you have careers," former Butler star and current Utah Jazz player Gordon Hayward said. "So we're not going to do something stupid."
The fact is that both sides are still far from being close to any understanding. The owners want too much and the players are willing to give away too little. Therefore, it isn’t very likely that the dispute would be resolved in
time and that’s something the players can’t keep ignoring, no matter how much they want to.
Tags: