Paul George’s recent severe leg injury has again raised questions over whether multi-million dollar contracted NBA players should be allowed to participate in the USA basketball programme.
There is no doubt that representing your country at the highest level is an incomparable honour, but it comes with huge financial risk for both players and NBA organisations.
This debate is not new – Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has for some time questioned why NBA franchises would allow players to participate in World Championships and even the Olympics, when they have no financial safeguard against losing players to serious injury.
“The greatest trick ever played was the IOC convincing the world that the Olympics were about patriotism and national pride instead of money,” Cuban said in 2012.
As much as we love watching NBA stars play for Team USA, you would be lying if you did not think that Cuban had a point. Why should an NBA team owner, who has invested millions in guaranteed salary to a player, accept the risk of losing him to a serious injury, and in an event that has nothing to do with his team?
An NBA team executive stated after George’s injury that, “The players have no risk, so that’s why they play. If you told players you’d have to eat their contract [if they got injured], you wouldn’t have one guy playing”.
Paul George is about to enter the first season of his guaranteed five-year $92 million contract, but is now unlikely to play at all in 2015 for the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers’ organisation is not only set to lose the talent of one of the NBA’s best players, but also the corporate revenue that comes along hand-in-hand with winning and having a superstar on your roster.
George is the first player to suffer a serious injury during international competition since NBA players were first allowed to participate.
However, Larry Bird, an original 1992 Dream Team member and now president of the Indiana Pacers, stated in response to the injury, “We still support USA Basketball and believe in the NBA’s goals of exposing our game, our teams and players worldwide”.
There is no question that since NBA players and the famous Dream Team started competing internationally in 1992, it has heightened the league’s brand all over the world. While virtually immeasurable, everyone has reaped the benefits – owners, the players and the league.
In addition to this, we have seen players from countries all around world acquire invaluable exposure to NBA scouts and teams. Both Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova have stated in the past that they relished the opportunity to play against such a high level of competition at such a young age.
There are now more international players in the NBA than ever before, arguably strengthening the calibre and overall reputation of the league. I fear disallowing NBA players from participating in international competitions could inhibit this momentum and the level of international revenue could plateau or be lost.
The good news for Australia is that newly-signed NBA player Dante Exum has long expressed his desire to play for his nation, even requesting his manager write a clause into any NBA contract he signs which allows him to play.
While Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut will not be playing in the upcoming World Cup for Australia due to injury, we can only hope that the Australian players currently in the NBA and others coming through the ranks of the US college system put national pride ahead of risk.
While this injury is devastating for George, Team USA and the Indiana Pacers, having NBA players participate in international competition has an outstanding positive influence on the globalisation and quality of the game that cannot be directly measured.
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