The Mighty Euro

by clarkpojo on Jul 21, 2008 11:40 AM MDT

Three or four years ago, it would have been considered ludicrous to spurn the NBA for a chance to play in Europe, but the times they are a changing. Up until now the NBA was considered the ultimate goal of every professional basketballer's dreams and those that couldn't make it wound up trying to prove themselves overseas or on the ridiculously non-basketball oriented AND-1 tour (Rafer Alston, I am looking at you). But the increasing value of the Euro, along with European ball clubs willingness to pay off player''s taxes and the influx of wealthy europeans in Euro-league management has provided increased incentive for players to spurn or even leave the NBA completely. Juan Carlos Navarro, Tiago Splitter, and Carlos Delfino were some of the first Europeans to either reject or leave the NBA for Europe. Primo Brezec and Bostjan Nachbar followed this week and there are strong indications that Atlant SF Josh Childress is considering signing with Greece's Olympiakos for $20 million for 3 years. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but as more and more players choose to play overseas instead of being forced to, along with the increasing caliber of players that are choosing to play, this could be a huge problem for David Stern and the NBA in the very near future. Brandon Jennings, a highly touted high school combo guard will be playing in Europe instead of the NCAA's this next year. For the Jazz it has implications as well. The Jazz have 2 european starters on their team along with 3 or four players that seem to fit in the Jazz's future if not next season. This developing story will continue to unfold over the next couple of seasons and we may see a day when the Lebron James' and the Kevin Durants of the NBA world skip the NBA all together and head over to tax free, salary cap free Europe.

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.

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scary thought

I read the Childress story too and was pretty surprised, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes for mid- to low-level NBA players. Why struggle for playing time on an NBA team and make a couple mil a year when you can make twice that and star amongst inferior competition? I just hope it won’t dilute the league.

I'll make it.

by Shums on Jul 21, 2008 2:04 PM MDT reply actions

Well said..

That’s what happens when you combine the growing strength of the Euro vs. the Dollar and the expanding popularity of basketball across Europe. This has to be killing Stern. The league faces potential diluting and more competition with other leagues/teams for the world’s best players. We are nearing a day where we’ll see teams like the Jazz not only challenge other teams in the league for free agents, but also other teams from other countries. This is what Stern gets for trying to globalize the NBA. I’m not saying he’s wrong, but he should’ve seen it coming. That’s gotta be why he wants to expand abroad with more teams. At least the money will stay within the NBA. Either way, look for the league to be even more diluted than it already is. And then the NBA’s slogan can be changed to: The NBA… Where mediocrity happens.

by neff on Jul 21, 2008 3:01 PM MDT reply actions

The best chance...

at seeing basketball played at its highest level will be every four years at the Olympics.

by neff on Jul 21, 2008 3:02 PM MDT up reply actions

This would mess up the CBA

If Stern wants to expand into other countries, that CBA would have to almost completely be re-written. What currency are the players paid in? They would have to decide on one. But if they go with the US dollar and try to have a team in Europe as things stand now, they would lose a lot more to Euro teams.

And this is a little OT, but any expansion would have to have scheduling, different labor laws, taxes, etc.

by Basketball John on Jul 21, 2008 3:07 PM MDT reply actions

There’s already a bit of the currency issue since there is a Canadian team. I can’t find a downloadable copy of the most recent (2005) CBA, but the 1999 version has language that says: (Section 10.f)