[ESPN] Cuban: "Players and owners should get together and create our own World Cup of Basketball"

And I still say it's the USA basketball program that decides who plays on the national team.

Not FIBA.

 

Going with Cubans 21 and under comment, ive been seeing a increasing number people say this should be reserved for College Players, like they dont have anything to lose from this.

If a College player suffered a PG typr injury he doesnt have a Guaranteed salery to fall back on and likely killed any draft stock he would have had.

 

It's a personal choice, a matter of pride to represent the country.

The Dream Team started it, and now it's like a rite of passage for players to say it's now my turn to represent. They also enjoy playing with other top NBA players, and competing against the best players of the world. Their games can actually become better as a result of playing under a different coach, a different system.

Still, they can choose to opt out like what Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, LMA have done.

 

Yeah, but what does Cuban care if a kid's career gets ruined? He doesn't lose any money

 

No he's not. The globalization of basketball really started with the Dream Team, and the popularity and exposure rises with every time NBA players play overseas in international competitions.

Not just American players, but also international players when they don their uniforms for their own countries. Basketball in China wouldn't be nearly the same if Les Alexander just told Yao to never play for the Chinese national team. Tony Parker last year led France to the Eurocup(?) championship. Everytime NBA players participate and succeed in international competition, the NBA owners see their revenue and team worth go up.

The NBA today would not be the global juggernaut it is if it weren't for these international competitions.

 

the media is so freaking annoying

 

If this were the case (whoever pays most controls the player) Jeremy Lin should stop playing in NBA games and only make appearances internationally.

 

USA Basketball (plus the U19/U18/U17/U16/Pan Am Games/etc...) has been playing for 64 years, how many serious injuries have there been?

 

Cuban using this freak injury to make a change that will benifit his hip pocket. Cuban is a guy who deserves to be forever refered to as, ****.

 

This is just rhetoric. You can't let the genie out of the bottle twice. It made the NBA more popular, it doesn't make it that much more popular now. Having an NBA Cup on international soil still exposes the NBA internationally. They don't need FIBA for that. This arrangement is a bit like the NCAA setting rules for NFL players and making money off them just for setting those rules.

 

It's called the olympics

 

Lol Cuban think a few rich people can just put some money and players together and call it a world cup.

 

Exactly. That's Cuban's whole point. He doesn't care about anyone getting hurt, just what it's going to cost him.

 

Lol, the NBA is the only reason anybody even bothers to pay attention to these competitions which were mostly ignored prior, not the other way around. And it's proved a huge boon for the sport, if by "sport" you mean monumentally corrupt gang of leeches from FIBA and the IOC.

Cuban is actually right for once. People pay money to see the players, who do the work and assume the risk. It would be better for them to not be free labor again like in their NCAA days

 

As the op pointed out, PG's devastating injury occurred on the same court the summer league played on. Shouldn't Cuban rant & rave as much against the summer league games as he does against international games?

 

Lol - when was the last time a max contract player played in the Vegas summer league? When was the last time NBC payed a billion dollars to broadcast it?

Your analogy needs help.

 

It's all about the money, not the players. Cuban wants the players to be "at risk" ONLY IF what they do makes money for him and other owners.

 

Of course. If he could stage a competition where 100% of the proceeds go to Mark Cuban he would do it. But obviously that's not possible, the players have to get a cut since they're doing the work.

Even if it does enrich the already rich - it seems vastly preferable to a situation where the money goes to a bunch of scammers in Switzerland.

 

Yes.

But personally I don't know why players want to do this, unless they see it as purely recreational and a way to stay in playing shape. Too much risk. George just lost ~$9 million.

 

how does him organizing a world cup prevent losses from injuries?

what if Paul George gets injured in his "world cup", Indiana loses the exact amount of money, time etc. as right now.