NBA Exodus - Is Lebron Leaving for Europe?
August 6, 2008
When I first heard the rumors that the Greek team Olympiakos was going to make a run at Lebron in 2010, I didn’t take it seriously at all. I figured they had no chance at luring James away who makes enough money to feed even Latrell Sprewell’s family here in the USA, but now I’m having second thoughts. ESPN is reporting Lebron would seriously consider leaving if he were offered $50 million per year! He couldn’t even make $20 million a year here (poor soul) given the NBA salary cap so maybe Lebron is thinking about it? I have to admit it’s hard to turn down $50 million…and the opportunity to make history.
According to “sources close to Lebron,” he’d view it as an opportunity to popularize himself overseas and become rich enough to build a statue of himself so large that it can be seen from anywhere on the planet, or even from space. Lebron also would like to see David Stern down on his knees begging him to come back while Jay-Z raps his new hit “The League is Mine.” Ok, I’m getting carried away…
But, seriously, can the Greek team pay that much and would Lebron accept? I don’t know if we have the answer right now (any Euro basketball experts out there?). The fact that this is even a possibility should be a bit troubling to the NBA. We’ve already seen numerous players leave for foreign leagues this year so its clear the NBA is no longer the only business in town. The NBA sees these players as replaceable, and they are right now, but you can only lose so many players before your product begins to decline. A lot of people would claim the league is already watered down and it’s not going to get any better if you’re losing players to other leagues on a regular basis.
The only problem for the NBA here is there ain’t much they can do about it. You either let the free market rule and scrap the salary cap, letting Lebron make $50 million here. But, that’d turn the NBA into MLB and the Knicks would actually be good, meeting the Lakers in the Finals every year. Or, you work with the foreign leagues and add some of their teams to the NBA, creating a logistical nightmare. Neither of those options are any good so the NBA needs to find a middle ground and at least do something. Either that or they can sit on their hands like they did with the referee crisis and risk going the way of the ABA.
So, where will Lebron be in 2010? Cleveland? Brooklyn? Greece?
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