Will A Big-Name NBA Player End Up Overseas?

The NBA has gone to great lengths to make its league more popular in countries outside the U.S., and has been very successful in creating a "global brand" of sorts.  There are more and more NBA stars coming from European and Asian countries as well. 

But the trend is beginning to go the other way, with NBA players making the trip overseas to earn more money. 

Top high-school recruit Brandon Jennings has chosen to forgo playing at the University of Arizona this fall, and signed with a team in Europe. 

This is likely a response, at least in part, to the NBA's rule that players need to play at least one season at the collegiate level before being eligible for the NBA Draft.  

But why should kids have to go to college for a year if they never intend to get a degree? With the NCAA's eligibility requirements as it pertains to basketball, the label of "student-athlete" appears to be just a facade for those that plan to jump to the NBA after one year anyway. 

So who can truly blame Jennings for going to Europe for what will probably only be one year? The money will be good of course, and he can come back and be eligible to be drafted into the NBA in 2009.

How long will it be before other highly touted high school basketball players do the same thing?  I think that depends on the success Jennings has, so only time will tell if he will be a trailblazer in that regard.

The more troubling trend is the exodus of current NBA players to Europe.  Josh Childress, Earl Boykins, Dan Dickau, among others, have signed lucrative contracts with European teams this summer. 

None of these guys I mentioned would be considered NBA stars.  It is scary to think what a marquee NBA player like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant could fetch from a European team willing to pay the salary. 

James has suggested he would consider playing overseas "for $50 million" per year.  It seems to me this comment was made in jest—but he could be serious. 

Bryant makes for a slightly more interesting case because he speaks fluent Italian, having lived in Italy as a boy when his father played there. 

James, as well as Dwayne Wade, is a free agent in two years and could be willing to make a move to Europe even if it was only for a year or two.   As the saying goes, "money talks"—especially tax-free, Euro-money.

I think it will be very bad for the NBA to lose any prominent star player, even for a short time. 

It's one thing to embrace our pro basketball league and be knowledgeable about the players, teams, etc.  That is good for the most part—but it's entirely another thing to effectively steal the NBA's best players because the European leagues have no salary cap restrictions