China to NBA stars: Stay home
I keep seeing where China’s economy is expanding, that the country hasn’t been as hard hit by recession as other countries.
The unemployment rate is low and China continues to grow as a global power.
The reason I bring this up is because it’s obviously a smart country. Another indication of that came this week when news arrived that the Chinese Basketball Association has decided not to hire locked out NBA players who are under contract.
The gist of the story is that the CBA will sign NBA free agents, but it’s too smart to hire those who are just looking to make some spending money during the lockout.
I don’t understand why leagues like the one in Turkey are willing to take NBA players under almost any circumstances. What it boils down to is that foreign leagues get used as a lifeboat for NBA players looking to pick up some cash during their down time. But those same players will leave in the middle of the night, as soon as the lockout ends.
But the Chinese said they’re not playing along.
All this makes sense. The CBA knows it is both expensive and uncertain to sign an NBA player. They don’t know how long he’ll be over there. It’s even debatable whether they can earn enough money to offset the cost of signing high contract players like Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.
Hence, China once again proves why it is force in the world financial market: It knows how to handle its money.
As for NBA players, there goes a sizable part of their I’ll-take-my-ball-and-play-elsewhere strategy.