http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...akers-kobe-bryant-china-not-done-options-open In my opinion, they'd be stupid to do this. Their league revenue would go bonkers if the likes of Kobe, Dirk, and Carmelo came over even for only a couple months.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/6876521/china-league-bars-nba-players-contract Official. Only free agents allowed. Wow. They could have had a really special once in a lifetime season over there. Nike was pushing its top guys to go.
There are had been talk about them doing something like this for a little while, but I wonder if it was hastened by the Georgetown incident.
I can see how signing a bunch of NBA short-timers would mess up their league. But, I htink there's still money to be made. They could set up a little exhibition season with new teams, bring in a bunch of NBA players and run a mini season in Chinese arenas. Maybe they play some games against CBA teams or maybe you mix some CBA players in -- or exlcude them altogether if they can't hang. But, I'm not surprised. They probably want to play nice with NBA managment for the sake of their future business relationships.
My thought exactly. I also agree with rpr that the Georgetown incident my have been the icing on the cake.