Smack / Aug 9, 2011 / 6:19 am

NBA Owners Making Bold Moves; Kobe Bryant Will Play In The 2012 Olympics

Michael Beasley

Really the whole reason behind this lockout stems from the owners believing steadfastly that they are losing money. But when the Hawks are sold for $300 million after being bought for $208 million seven years ago, it’s hard to convince the general public that the NBA really is a losing business. How can teams be taking substantial hits – as the NBA is proclaiming – when the worth of franchises isn’t doing anything but rising? Some say David Stern is guaranteeing the new buyers that the new CBA will ensure profitability and that’s why they are stepping forward. But still. And then David Aldridge offered this bit: “The source said owners frequently speak of ‘being tired of making these guys rich’ and are even contemplating asking for more, such as including income the players receive from their commercial endorsements and sponsorship money into the BRI pot — the theory being the players wouldn’t become famous and able to make such deals if not for the NBA infrastructure that puts them on television and other media.” So basically, the owners are looking a little like spoiled brats, so used to making money off everything that when they see their players living lavishly at their expense, they get frustrated and feel insulted. Are the owners going to cut in on everything the players earn? Every time we watch one of those dope Derrick Rose adidas commercials, will the owners be at his front stoop the following morning asking for some change? C’mon people, lose the pride for just a minute and make some progress … In what has to be one of the worst celebrations we’ve ever seen, Terrence Williams ripped off his jersey and threw it on the floor after dunking on Derrick Caracter during a summer league game. We’ve seen some weird things in summer leagues before, but this is up there. The worst part was Williams returned to the fallen shirt 10 seconds later to put it back on. It was so unnecessary that even Michael Beasley probably laughed at it … You know it’s not a Smack during a day in the summer during a potentially long and boring lockout, without a dose of some B-Easy. Beasley comes through again with more entertainment by proclaiming: “Goodman league. The best league in the f______ world. The Drew league is OK. They play indoor, man they don’t know anything about this hard life. It’s the streets out here man” … A source close to Kobe Bryant says the guard will definitely be playing in the 2012 Olympics. He wants a second gold, and plans to go for it even at his advanced age and with all the issues of a lockout. Who’s going to be the leader on that team? If Kobe is there, he’ll still be one of the top few players, but would he still be the guy they go to late in a game? … While Luol Deng will be suiting up, Ben Gordon won’t be playing for Great Britain in EuroBasket 2011 despite a lengthy process (it’s been going on all summer) aimed at granting him insurance. We talked to BG back in July and he felt it was probably going to happen. Ultimately, it came down to this: Deng is in a comfortable situation in Chicago (if he gets hurt, he knows the Bulls have his back) while Gordon is stashed in somewhat of a basketball Hell in Detroit. If he gets hurt, who knows what would happen? … And who is the best athlete you’ve ever seen play in the NBA? … We’re out like “Watch The Throne” hype.


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  • knoc99

    Beasely is the second coming of ronron


    “It’s the streets out here man, you never know when some guys will roll up and mush you in the face… shit is real” M. Beasley

    Terrence Williams; forgot what playing basketball was like… excuse him if he got a little excited but for some reason teams refuse to play him.

    That dunk was the basketball highlight of this past year for him.

  • Celts Fan

    I still think TWill can be a damn good player. I’d kill for the Celtics to pick him up.

  • heckler

    I spoke to a source over the weekend whose firm has worked with the NBA in the past; the man let us know that as of 2010, 22 of the 30 NBA were LOSING money. He even cited Orlando as one of the teams that werent profitting (surprising to me since the Magic are really the only major sports team in town and they just went to the finals).

    So…I believe that the owners are losing money; even if the Hawks were sold for $100mil more than they were purchased for only 7yrs ago.

    the fact that so many owners are willing to sell is a sign in itself.

    as the days go own, I (some how) find myself siding with the owners more and more. the system is broken.
    the league needs to stay profitable. if not, we’ll see more and more franchises relocate or (even worse) FOLD.

    the NBA is actually in TOO many markets at the moment. and a good portion of them CANNOT support a pro team for a 20-30yrs. they just cant.

    and…where are the coaches in all this?
    they are NOT actually a part of the players union, and their pay does NOT count against a salary cap, but imagine an owner with a $75mil (player) payroll and he STILL has to pay the coaching staff.

    an NBA players endorsements is not BRI. fuck that, i dont cared what the owners say. i wish i played in the NBA did a bullshit commerical for some gimmick product and found 4 owners from my division standing on my lawn….I WISH.
    I would UFC choke slam two them bastards; and pistol whip the other two…

  • JDish

    I’ve said it before, this whole lockout thing is all about money and one side wanting more while the other side wants to Keep making more. Thank you Dime, its starting to sound like a bunch of spoiled brats man. The only losers here are the fans. Players and owners make millions of dollars off the fans; we watch the games, buy the jerseys, buy the basketballs, buy the bball shoes, buy the NBA headbands and wristbands and armbands and legbands. This is to both the Owners and Players: Can’t you come to an agreement already. You are all gonna get PAID at the end of the day no matter what. Whether its 10 million or 15 million, the digits will still be in the millions for all of you. Enough with all this whole ordeal already, lose the pride and get something done. The fans want to see some NBA basketball.

  • JAY


    Nobody knew this before you posted it, so I’d like to thank you for the ground breaking analysis. I always thought labour negotiations were about logos and jersey colors.

  • Fish

    That’s a cop out excuse for Gordon. He has been proclaiming for years that he is going to play for the UK in one form or anther and it has never happened. Appreciate the guy works hard but he sees basketball as a business, nothing more.

  • First & Foremost

    Why not add Cheryl to Reggie’s team?

  • First & Foremost

    Damn… wrong article

  • jay

    not to be a prick and i am not just siding with the players but lets dissect this for a minute.. orlando just built a brand new arena…orlando overpaid vc, agent zero and rashard lewis….no one told them to pay shard that much..that is there problem! maybe have revenue sharing but no way should kobe fork over his swoosh money for example to la though that is a bad example since la is like the yanks and make a ton of money! that is their endorsement money not the team..what the knicks want coin from melo for his show with the wifey……as ocho would say..child…please!

  • Big Island

    Having the endorsement money included seems fair enough to me, as long as the owners include all of their other businesses in with their numbers.

    From everything I have heard, although I’ve never been, Atlanta is an awesome city. I am not sure why you buy the Hawks though. It just seems like they will always be a 5-7 seed, maybe get into the second round, and always have some good players, but not great ones.

  • Celts Fan

    Here’s the issue (Jay, this isnt new either, so get ready w your wiseass comeback) sure, destination cities like NYC, Chi, LA, Mia will always be profitable, as will Boston thanks to the histpry/fanbase, but lots of teams are getting screwed. A team like Indy has no chance of ever luring a major FA, cuz whod want to live there if they could be in one of the other cities mentioned above? As a result, youre stuck overpaying a #2 on a contender or letting him walk for nothing (also see JJ on atl.) From there, u see owners having to overpay bench guys to get them to come (maggette, al harrington, wes matthews who lived up to the deal, but still seemed absurd at the time.)

    This isnt football where u had millionaires fighting w billonaires on how to split record profits in a healthy league. Theyve opened the books. Small market teams are getting hammerfucked and the only hope is pray you draft a guy wired like KD or overpay and hope it works out. They leagues not healthy and they do NEED to completel

  • Celts Fan

    *NEED to completely overhaul the financial system in the league. Sterns already said contractions out, so it doesnt look good…

  • JAY

    LOL! Nah, i’m not gonna be a wise ass to your post. JDish opens his post with “I’ve said it before, this whole lockout thing is all about money…” like he’s been trying to convince everyone about it for a while.

    And I agree with everything you mentioned in #12. The NBA needs some sort of salary arbitration…. <— like, i've been telling y'all all along. :P

  • s.bucketz

    no offense to any1 from chicago but it is not a destination city…it is a city u go to for a few days in the summer to look at shit and u never go back unless u have to…chicago is similar to boston in that its still living off previous hype and havin a good squad right now…when the bulls had chandler and curry did ANY free agent wanna sign there?? chicago jus fell ass backwards into a transcendental player that david stern built up as a superstar..that is all

  • s.bucketz

    but they do have good fans and a cheap ass owner so thas y chi-town still makin money

  • Aaaron


    tired of making these black guys rich is what it is. other races will read this and say what’ever man its not about race. black guys will read this and say, ‘i know that’s right’.

  • Celts Fan

    @s bucketz. Its a destination city cuz its a HUGE city w.a ton to do. If youre a star in Chi, youll gt tons of endorsements just like if u were in NYC or LA. And the city is amazing. Id kill to live there. Its making $$$ cuz there are tons of companies that can afford the luxury boxes and shit like that. I guarantee they were still profitable when they sucked just like the Knicks will always be profitable, even when Zeke was running em into the ground.

  • Diego

    That $300 mil. for the Hawks looks like pretty damn good money. Plus, I read that such current sale is only for an 80% stake. And the current ownership group sold the Thrashers hockey team a couple of months ago for some dough, and that initial $208 mil. tab I believe also included the Thrashers purchase 7 years ago.

  • braindead

    i didnt overhype watch the throne. so it was dope to me.

  • JAY

    LOL @ Chicago not being a destination city. Chicago is world-class. A city wouldn’t even be considered as a possible destination to host the OLYMPICSunless it is a world-class city

    Who cares if FAs weren’t lining up to sign there during the Chandler/Curry days? That doesn’t indicate whether or not a city is a “destination city”. I don’t exactly remember the FA situation, and their salary cap situation but I do remember that Bulls team making a youth-movement with Hinrich, Crawford, Gordon, Deng, Noci, Curry and Chandler. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think they were in the market to sign top-end FA agents. The roster was filled with young players who were gelling and they were winning games and even surprising the top-dogs in the league.

  • JAY

    and just for the record…. the IOC (International Olympic Committee) made a shortlist of possible hosts for the 2016 Olympics…. that list included

    Madrid, Spain
    Tokyo, Japan
    Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    Chicago, United States

    Look at that list… Chicago is NOT a destination city??? You’re speaking crazy.

  • First & Foremost

    Owners should get endorsement deal money. If Nike wants to have a logo anywhere in the arena, they pay for that spot. If Chic-Fil-A wants to have a flying cow dropping coupons, they fork over some money.

    Analogy Time
    If your house is the corner lot with a garage and your neighbor’s kids want to sell lemonade from your house because it gives them more exposure to people passing by. Are you ENTITLED to some percentage of their sales? You personally aren’t making the lemonade but without your prime location they don’t sell nearly as much.

    Who here owns a pair of And1 shoes? [I'm not judging you]Since they aren’t advertised inside of an NBA arena, they clearly don’t sell as many shoes. NBA owners should get SOME endorsement money ONLY if the product is directly related to basketball. John Wall hyping up the Zig-zag cross trainer is off limits, however his personal shoe is fair game.

  • Celts Fan

    @first and foremost. Heeeellllll no. Thats a slippery slope. If Nike uses team logos, etc, the teams get a cut, if not, they dont deserve it. Nike signed up LeBron, not the Heat/Cavs. Thats an insane stance to take.

  • First & Foremost

    You can guess what is for dinner. Imagine you worked at Safeway. Now imagine if you were endorsed by Popeyes. Your job has a relaxed dress code so you can wear whatever you want as long as you have your name tag on. Now, Safeway has hired you to work and promote their services. If you constantly come in handing out coupons [2 free pieces when you order a 3-piece combo], Popeyes is making money off of your direct access to Safeway’s customers. Had Safeway or any other grocery store not hired you, you be giving out coupons to fewer people. So Safeway is the only entity not capitalizing on that revenue stream.

    If you want advertising in any other way, companies pay for it. The league could pull a dick move and impose a fine on the players for not wearing league approved shoes. They won’t because of the negative perception and it gives even more publicity to shoe companies. Then again, someone has to pay the fine.

    I agree it would be a slippery slope but the reasoning is valid. There is an argument that this type of income COULD fall into the category of Basketball Related.

  • First & Foremost

    Without the NBA Lebron would be just another tall dude walking around who just so happens to be good at sports. He would be Lebron James – $100M Nike Shoe Endorsement. How many people have basketball shoe deals with a major company, that has never been in the NBA?

    When has Adidas rolled up to a famed basketball park and signed a dude, literally off the street? What street legend has their own shoe?
    If the owners, for some whacked out reason, don’t get the deal they want; I’m curious as to how creative they can be to raise money. If I was an owner, no square inch would be off limits. Viagra ads in the men’s room. Airplane ads around the arc [long-distance]. Car ads in the paint [Driving the lane]. The back of every seat would have a furniture store ad on it. Cheerleaders walking around with sandwich boards made by Victoria Secrets. The bathroom sink wouldn’t even have a mirror, it would just be a long ass billboard.

  • Big Island

    F&F – If you worked for me at Safeway, and people loved you, and came to buy groceries from my store because of you, I am profiting off of you. I tell you what uniform to wear, what to wear on the way to and from the store, I tell you how long to answer questions after your shift, I sell Safeway video games and buttons and aprons with your likeness, and even have a F&F bobblehead night. Then I run commercials saying you are going to be there, and the first 100 people to show up get a free soda, I say how Safeway is the best store ever, and show you pointing to the produce, helping a lady to her car, I am making a killing off of you. And if you get into trouble outside of my store, I don’t pay you, make you pay me, don’t let you ride motorcycles. Or ski. Or snowboard. I pretty much tell you what you can and can’t do at the store, and then a bunch of stuff outside of the store is off limits.

    Then a guy down the street says here, wear the shoes I make, I’ll give you $100. And then people start coming into my store in those shoes. And kids buy candy from my store in your shoes. And ladies hold up signs at my store wanting to marry you. It’s all at my store.

    You got famous at my store, and I controlled everything in regards to my store, and put some limits on what you can do outside of my store. At what point do I completely own you? You got a good seat at a concert because of me. Your house that the real estate agent gave you a deal on? Me. Your wife? Wouldn’t have met her if you weren’t in the concert seat that you got because the guy knows you from my store.

    Then you retire from my store. But you still have people buying shoes. Still mine. And you got a better house because the first one I got for you is worth more, so I get part of the new one. And you go out and talk at conventions for $50, mine. And your butcher camp? Me.

    I can own your likeness for certain things regarding my store, and build your fame for my store’s benefit, and control my store. Your fame was created by your performance in my store. If you don’t perform (out of my control) you aren’t famous. If you do perform, and I market it, and people buy all of my groceries because of you, I am already getting my slice of pie.

  • 2cents

    In no other job, can you approach your boss and ask to have a take home of his profits. The boss takes the risk, has to pay ALL the outgoings and then see what he has left for themselves.

    If you are a player and you get paid millions, even if you are injured, retire or just see 1 minute of burn per season, you have no ground to ask for a % of the profits.

    The NBAP are the spoilt brats who need to get on with the “job” they are lucky to have.