It's Nothing Personal, It's just Business... (NBA players involved in FIBA & Olympics)
After witnessing the horrific injury sustain by Paul George at the USA
basketball scrimmage, it reignited the debate about NBA players being
involved in international competition. Some claim that George's incident
is evidence that NBA players should not be involved because the risk of
injury could cost teams and the NBA a lot of money. Some team owners
believe the risk is just too high from both a basketball and business
perspective.
Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, tweeted that NBA and players don't make a dime, but that the revenue generated by them, all go to the International Basketball Federation, Fédération Internationale de Basket-ball (FIBA)and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Further, Cuban claims that, "the greatest trick ever played was the IOC convincing the world that the Olympics were about patriotism and national pride instead of money..." All this might or might not be true, but Mark Cuban has open a whole new perspective.
It is true that the NBA players participating in FIBA World Cup and the Olympics don't get anything in return. They play to represent their country and compete at the highest level to win, but they do make money for FIBA and the IOC. Money is generated by charging admission to games, selling merchandise, and other promotional incentives. This is where NBA player's national pride becomes tricky. NBA teams whose players play at FIBA World Cup and/or the Olympics are at risk of getting injured at the expense of their teams. Those teams have spent a hefty amount of money on those players and since contracts are guaranteed, even if they get hurt, they are still obligated to pay them. Usually, player who play in those competitions are the best player on their team who each make roughly, $10-20 million per year. If one of them gets injured, it can hurt a franchise drastically. Not only will a team pay a player who will not be playing for them, but also have team that is not very good. Having a bad team means fans are not going to watch, and when fans don't watch, a franchise loses money.
Here's my take on how Paul George's injury might affect the NBA:
First off, the team that Paul George plays for, the Indiana Pacers, will be the most affected. They will be losing their best player for possibility the whole year, and on top of that, will still pay him an eight figure amount. Just recently, the Indiana Pacers received the Disabled Player Exception, which gives them $5.3 million to get a player to replace George. Whatever player they can get in free agency right now, it will not be comparable to the set of skills that Paul George has. They will be also playing in a tough division were championship caliber teams, such as the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers will be in. It's just a very unfortunate thing to face as the Pacers were an elite team seeking a NBA title, prior to the injury. As for the NBA league, the injury might affect them in a positive way. As bad as this sounds, since Paul George's injury has been talked a lot about in the media, this could actually give the NBA free publicity. Whether it's bad or good publicity, having people talking about you is always good. As the undefeated boxer, Floyd Mayweather likes to say, "Whether you like me or hate me, you're still going to watch me."
Regardless of how Paul George's injury will affect the Indiana Pacers and the NBA, we should focus on his health and how to improve players' safety in the future instead of money. As Kevin Zimmerman, a SBNation writer suggest, maybe we should just address a more important and immediate question as to whether there should be changes to safety regulations that could prevent injuries, rather than discussing business.
But as much as we enjoy to play and watch sports, let's face it, with billions of dollars at stake, sports is nothing personal, it's just business.
Comments are welcomed!
As always, comments are welcomed!
As always, comments are welcomed!
