King James + Kobe Eye Euro Riches
Posted by Sport.co.uk on: 12 August 2008 - 15:32
Author: Steve Rawlins
When Kobe Bryant was asked recently by the Boston Globe if he planned to review offers from European clubs before signing an extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, I think he surprised a couple of people on the west coast with his answer.
It wasn’t so much that he said yes, although I imagine that gave Jack Nicholson and co. indigestion to start with, it was how flat and business-like his answer was. "Do you know any reasonable person that would turn down 50 [million dollars]?"
Most people have their price
So why then, when LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are causing these types of murmurings are so many people still scoffing at the prospect of the pair potentially crossing the Atlantic?
Carlos Delfino, one of my favourite Toronto Raptors, moved without too much media attention this summer to Russia’s BC Khimki. Just recently the Greek League basketball team Olympiakos stumped up a figure close to $30 million to enlist the services of the Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Josh Childress. Sports Illustrated last week released an article revealing that this same team is actively interested in talking to James in 2010 when he is free from his current contract with the Cavaliers.
Is anyone getting worried yet?
When a reserve guard in the NBA goes to Europe and makes twice his highest paid NBA season there’s a problem, and that problem is the spending power of European basketball teams. The Greek and Russian ones, it seems, are particularly cash-happy. Crucially too, they are not tethered by the same salary caps that restrain the earning power of today’s NBA superstars. Hear that, Kobe?
LeBron James has also cited a “ballpark” 50 million figure as one which might tempt him. Despite the fact that multiple NBA teams are currently attempting to engineer a gap in their salary caps to try and make a move for King James, there is no team in the Association, not even the Lakers that could offer a contract worth $20 million, let alone $50 million.
But still, many fans will dismiss the possibility of a European move. A player of LeBron James’ or Kobe Bryant’s quality playing in a low quality league just seems ridiculous.
Er… Michael Jordan, anyone?
If Jordan had told you in early 1993 at the height of his basketball career that he planned to walk away from the championship winning Chicago Bulls and play minor league baseball with the Chicago White Sox, you’d probably have laughed so hard you squirted milk out your nose.
Besides, LeBron commented that he would not regard playing in Europe as playing in a “minor league”. Speaking on the issue at the press conference for the USA Olympic basketball team, James commented that “growing up, you never think about any other league besides the NBA. But things are changing really fast and you never know. I can’t throw all my eggs in one basket … Did I ever imagine [playing abroad]? No. Is it a possibility? Yes.”
A huge loss
Of course if a player of LeBron James’s magnitude would leave the NBA it would be a huge loss to the association. While no major stars have done so yet, if this summer’s trend continues it could become a major concern to the NBA executives. LeBron is one of the three or four players the league would definitely hate to lose.
Whether such a high profile move will ever materialize is by no means certain, although Josh Childress and Carlos Delfino should serve as warning signs. David Stern, the current NBA commissioner, wanted to popularize basketball in Europe. Let’s hope he hasn’t gone too far.