When Paul George went down last week with a broken leg, people began discussing if perhaps his participation on Team USA was actually a wise choice and whether other NBA stars should be risking their careers, and their livelihoods, to participate in games that bring them basically nothing but trophies and T-Shirts.
Now the whole face of the 2014-2015 professional basketball season has been changed up due to an unwarranted injury to a major player. Prices on the Indiana Pacers fell dramatically and other moves were made on other lines as the wagering market struggled to deal with this newest development.
Why would a multimillion dollar a year player go oversees to play for an unfamiliar coach on foreign courts and risk injury just because it’s an honor to be named to the team? The recognition is great, but what about the risk? What about his team members and fans? Not to mention the franchise that pays his high dollar salary?
Dallas Mavericks outspoken owner Mark Cuban has come out publically stating that ‘it’s the epitome of stupidity that that the NBA allows itself to be used so that other corporations make hundreds of millions, if not billions’. Of course he is talking about the FIBA and the folks who run the international tournaments. The NBA has no control over these international events in which NBA superstars are participating with the possible result of changing the future expectations of entire franchises.
Top flight, All-Star NBA players are often called on to play their hearts out in places where even adequate medical attention is questionable. The NBA is one of the most powerful sports organizations on the planet, and yet they let their players wander far from their care and control. Valuable commodities. What could they be thinking?
The tragic injury to Paul George has also led many basketball fans and writers to make the connection to this season ending injury and the predicament that the NCAA finds itself in with their own players and the subject of injuries incurred while participating in contact sports for their dear Alma Mater. What about those young athletes? Who then takes care of them?
The NBA and the NFL, to which most college basketball and football aspire, are not technically or financially linked to their University counterparts, but the obvious connections are there. An injury to a top prospect, while still in college, could well have an impact on the professional team to which he or she was destined to join.
