The National Basketball Association lockout could be somewhat of a shot in the arm for the ailing National Basketball League.
Already the Sydney Kings have signed up Jerai Grant for the upcoming NBL season. The 22-year old Grant is a former star of Clemson University and comes from NBA royalty.
His father is Harvey Grant, who played 11 seasons in the NBA with Washington and Portland, while Australian basketball fans will better know his uncle Horace.
The bespectacled one was part of the dominant Chicago Bulls team of the 1990s alongside greats Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Jerai Grant is a great addition for the Kings, considering he is NBA material but is heading Down Under thanks to the NBA lockout.
Melbourne’s Herald Sun reported on the weekend that a whole host of NBA stars could be heading to Australia in October to play a series of games because of the competition’s impasse.
Players of the calibre of Derrick Rose, Paul Gasol and Chris Paul could play some exhibition matches in Melbourne.
This would be a huge coup for Australian basketball. The NBL season kicks off in October, not that many people would be aware of it, considering the dismal amount of publicity the sport generates in Australia.
And a week or two’s tour by some of the NBA’s finest would be a great way to market basketball and spur interest in the new NBL season.
Other clubs should also follow the Kings lead and look to recruit potential NBA players or draft picks while the lockout continues.
There is a stack of talented players that will have nowhere to play and will be looking for employment from around the world. Why not Australia?
The NBL has an image problem, its public face has diminished greatly since its high point in the 1990s, so it needs to do everything it can to be seen and heard. An adoption of the A-League’s marquee system would be another way to get some publicity and bums on seats.
Shaquille O’Neal, one of the most iconic figures in world sport, retired from the NBA in June. Stephen Marbury, the former New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets guard and All-Star, has been playing in China for the past year and half.
Why does the NBL not try and entice these sorts of players? Granted it’s a monumental ask. They won’t play for peanuts and their motivation might not be there. But the NBL needs to think and dream big.
It would be a worthy attempt to try and sign these kinds of players.
Outside investment from business figures and sponsors would be needed. But we could appeal to their big egos and sell the appealing Aussie lifestyle. They would be huge fish in a small pond.
Some input from ‘Shaq Diesel’ or ‘Starbury’, or other NBA veterans coming to the end of the careers like – Jason Williams, Yao Ming, Kevin Garnett and Steve Francis – would be a slam dunk for the NBL from a marketing perspective.
It would get people talking, and guarantee that basketball is on the back pages of the papers again.
Build your own ultimate team! Pick your key players and take a shot at big cash prizes every day with Draftstars. For great odds on NBA games every day head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Nikola Jokic has scored 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead defending NBA champions Denver past LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers…
There will undoubtedly be upset results here and there in the NBA playoffs but there’s an overwhelming sense of fait accompli that Boston will…
LeBron James is going back to the Olympics for the first time in 12 years. Steph Curry is headed to the games for the…
The only realistic threat to Boston’s chances of strolling through the Eastern Conference is a team that could still end up in the play-in…
Australian guards Dante Exum and Josh Giddey have both come up big for their NBA clubs in crucial wins in the lead-in to the…
Minnesota Timberwolves fans have endured plenty of pain in their 35 years of being a laughing stock in the NBA. In all that time,…
