Olympics: Paying NBA Players Other Than with Gold Offers No Silver Lining

Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat helped make headlines this week when he had agreed with Boston Celtic's guard Ray Allen on the notion that NBA players should be paid to partake in the Olympic Games. Both Wade and Allen have taken part in the Olympics in the past, both winning gold medals for the United States with Allen winning one during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia and Wade in 2008 in Beijing, China.

Dwyane Wade has since changed his view on the matter saying he doesn't want to be paid to be in the Olympic games but the question is still up for debate. Should NBA athletes be paid for their time training/playing for the United States Olympic team?

The answer is no. Aside from taking away from the absolute beauty and intention of the games itself, let's consider the amount of money our NBA stars already make. According to David Whitley, an AOLFanhouse columnist, the projected 12-man Olympic roster is set to make about $168 million this year alone before endorsement deals.

Between Wade and Allen, they seem to share the same reason as to why they feel some sort of compensation is needed, and that's simply the added grind to their already long seasons. Both Wade and Allen pointed out the fact that a team that potentially makes a deep playoff run plays into June, and with the Olympics slated to begin just some 40-50 days later it doesn't allow for much time to rest and rehabilitate.

Couple that with the fact that following a possible Gold Medal Game appearance in mid-August would leave the United States players with just over a month before having to report to training camp with their NBA teams.

That being said, the Olympic games is and should always be about the nation you represent, and the people that make up that nation. It's always been a favorite quote of mine, from Herb Brooks in the movie Miracle depicting his 1980 United States hockey team that played in the infamous "Miracle on Ice" against Russia en route to a Gold Medal. "The name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back."

I feel like more and more in today's day and age, athletes lose site of the team concept and the success of the team and focus more on personal success and accolades. While celebrating an individual medal is great and well deserved for all Olympic athletes, individuals are playing for a team, their country, and their teammates—being all the other Olympic athletes from their nation, as well as all the supporters watching back home.

Here in America, we have become a little spoiled with the Olympic games. Being a super-power type, free country, presents us with more opportunity. We have become accustomed to seeing hundreds of athletes at the Opening Ceremony, and accustomed to seeing our athletes on the Medal Stand very often during the Games.

However, some of the best stories of the Games aren't the ones that involve Michael Phelps setting records and bringing home eight Gold Medals, or watching our NBA stars dominate inferior nations on the basketball court like it's a varsity vs. junior varsity game. Some of the best story-lines are when you see the pride in a lone athlete from a nation like Algeria carrying their nation's flag or in 2008 when Pakistan experienced its first ever Winter Olympics by sending a single skier to represent the nation and its people.

Partaking in the Olympics is a reward and one that is well deserved considering the years and years of hard work put into training for it, but it is also a privilege—especially in basketball when numerous NBA players could be selected, or even college athletes for that matter.

To have the opportunity to represent the United States and showcase yourself and team on the world stage is perhaps the greatest opportunity in sports. It's not about the number or the name on the back of your uniform after all, it's about the three colors and the three letters your uniform represents—The good ole red, white and blue and all of the people that make up the great nation that is our U.S.A.