Locked & Loaded!

"Man, don't play with me! I can go anywhere and play basketball."

I've been saying for months that the NFL owner's have all of the leverage simply because they have a monopoly on the game of football. Where else in the world can a guy make $5 million a year playing this game? Nowhere! America is the only place they're playing football besides Canada and they don't have the fan base to pay guys that type of money because they're more interested in hockey up there.

Well...the NBA tried to pull the same power move and have a lockout of it's own. However, the owner's don't possess the power that the NFL owner's do. They forgot that they're playing basketball all over the world and guys don't have to beg them to play.

Deron Williams' agent, Jeff Schwartz, confirmed on Thursday to ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher a report from the Turkey-based sports outlet NTV Sports that the All-Star point guard has struck an agreement in principal to play for Besiktas, which is the club that briefly employed Allen Iverson last season.

It’s a one year deal worth $5 million sources have told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard. Besiktas coach Ergin Ataman told the New York Times that they've also sealed a deal with Atlanta Hawks center Zaza Pachulia. Hey, these guys aren't playing around either.

"If there's a possibility, we'll talk with Kobe (Bryant) if he'd like to play in Europe with Deron and with other guys to play we can talk with him," Ataman said. "If Kobe would like to play with us, we will also contact his agent and maybe with him."

Now let's keep it real, this is a power move by the NBA Players Association to kick start the lockout negotiations into full gear. I mean these guys don't want to go to Europe to play ball. They'd rather be right here doing what they've always done. Who wants to go overseas to get less money than they can get here at home without the inconvenience.

Deron Williams doesn't speak Turkish or whatever language they speak in Turkey. That would be a hassle just trying to communicate with teammates and ordering food at the minimum. That's what a guy does when he doesn't have options and believe me D. Will's got plenty of them.

He's guaranteed nearly $34 million from the Nets if he doesn't opt out of the $17.8 million he's owed in 2012-13! Now granted, he wouldn't be protected in the event he’s injured while playing overseas. That would mean that he would have to purchase a separate insurance policy to cover himself if he decides to play over there. Like I said, this is all posturing at best, but it puts the owner's on notice that the options are available.


Could you imagine if guys like Kobe, LeBron and D. Wade took off and played in Europe? Boy, talk about getting hit! The NBA would be crippled financially if something like that were to happen. Whether you like LeBron or not he's the money maker for the league as I explained in “The Most Powerful Man In The NBA“. All the money this past season went through him. Would the league had been nearly as entertaining to watch without him? Not at all.

So David Stern and his boys don't want to see guys even talking with European teams. He's pulling his hair out to get this thing settled. I'll guarantee that this lockout won't last as long as the NFL lockout for that reason alone. The players have options and there's nothing the league or the owners can do about it.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter:@jaygravesreport
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.