According to Chris Broussard, LeBron has already heard several offers from European teams. He likes money a lot. He wants to be a global icon. Awesome.
The article goes on and on about how it is unreasonable that LeBron would be paid $50 million per season overseas due to the exchange rate and lack of salary cap there. Ok.
It also makes some comparison to the amount of money David Beckham is paid to play in the MLS. Right.
The thing is, if LeBron wants to be a global icon, he should start by WINNING AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP OR TWO!!!
Yes, I know he is an absolute beast, I know he accelerates like nobody’s business, I know he is young and has the Universe by the sack, but the thing is, the guy has done essentially nothing in the NBA worth having Global Icon status to this point.
You know who else was young and had the world by the sack and was a standout NBA player for a time? Stephon Marbury. Vince Carter. Chris Webber. Grant Hill. Should I keep going?
I’m not going to say that all of the above had the same amount of potential as LeBron, it wouldn’t even really be a fair comparison as they are different types of players and what not.
Still, shit happens. People come into the league with infinite potential and sometimes get hurt, or get stuck on shitty teams, or get paid so much that they cannot be surrounded by good players, or just generally start believing their own hype overdo things and end up train-wrecks. Shit happens.
The thing is, the NBA cannot afford to pay LeBron $50 million a season. The salary cap will not allow any palyer to be paid that much without being surrounded by maybe 1 other veteran and 10 rookies. That is the way the math would boil down.
And you know who some true American sports global icons are? Michael Jordan. Tiger Woods. Maybe Lance Armstrong.
You know why? Because THEY HAVE WON CHAMPIONSHIPS!
Win 3 or 4 NBA Titles LeBron. You will be a global icon. Don’t worry about it.
Regardless of if his plan is to play in Europe only for 1 or 2 seasons, make bank, come back to the NBA and take a pay cut and then try to win MVP awards and NBA Titles, it still doesn’t make sense. Not for a young athlete in his prime.
If LeBron decided this when he was 31, still had 6 or 7 seasons left in him, had won a couple titles in America, I would say, sure, go for it, awesome, makes sense.
But this is just silly at this point. Speculation or not.
David Stern should be shitting bricks.
August 6, 2008 at 1:17 pm |
[...] King of Everything Chair thinks Lebron would be making a big mistake by going abroad for $50 million. I’m [...]
August 6, 2008 at 1:46 pm |
From now on, Europe is used to see his best players leaving the Euroleague to play ball in NBA. I guess it will be the same thing for NBA, I mean she’ll have to get used to it, having its best player bolting in Europe!
August 6, 2008 at 4:59 pm |
Yeah, I agree. Congratulations, LeBron, you’ve gotten to the Eastern conference finals. I’m pretty sure J-Kidd’s done that twice with a can of beans and a shopping cart.
September 25, 2008 at 8:05 pm |
[...] I’m not saying I know LeBron’s every move or anything, but I did read this article over the Summer about how he would like to play in Europe for more money tha… [...]