Why the Super Stars of the NHL get it right Compared to the NBA

Tonight, sports fan or not, there will be millions of people tuned into ESPN watching the sports bachelor, Lebron James, make his decision of where he will play next year.  Yes it makes for great television, but what loyalty does it show?  Even if Lebron gives his final “rose” to his home town of Cleveland, do they really have the same love for him as they once had?  If Lebron gives his final “rose” and announces his intentions to sign with Miami, or New York; do you think he’ll shed the same tears as Wayne Gretzky did when he was traded from Edmonton to LA?

Aside from the Lebron watch tonight, the NBA has a problem with their players staying in their original cities.  You have Amar’e Stoudemire jumping to a lesser team (Knicks) just for a change of scenery. Dwayne Wade held Miami on pins and needles until he could convince fellow free agent Chris Bosh to join him on the Heat.  Bosh gave his original team, the Raptors, almost no chance of re-signing him to a max deal. 

Even Carmelo Anthony, who has a year left on his contract, tried to leave his team in Denver to join Stoudemire in New York.  The Nuggets offered him a 3 year $61million extension to stay there through the 2013 season.  However he saw the coverage of the big three free agents this year (Bosh, Wade, James) and decided that he wanted to opt out of his contract. 

Then there is the NHL, where the super stars pick the team first over who’s playing where now.

The two faces of the NHL, Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby both came into the league at the same time (2005) just like Lebron and Wade.  When there was a chance their contracts were coming up both could have said, “hey let’s hold the NHL hostage and demand max contracts!” 

No, instead they gave a “hometown” discount to stay.  Crosby signed a new deal with the team that gave him a home in the NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins, for 8 years at $8.7million.  Crosby could have put himself on the market for a bigger city to sign him to a max 12 year deal; leaving the city of Pittsburgh high and dry and possibly putting the team out of the NHL. 

For Alex Ovechkin, he’s the best comparison to Lebron James for the sport of hockey.  He’s flashy, he’s a scorer first, he’s the one when people hear the name NHL, they think of Ovechkin.  Alex much like Lebron has won MVP awards, scoring titles, and his team, the Washington Capitals, have tried to build a team around him to capture the Stanley Cup.  Also like Lebron both have never won their league’s title.  When Alex’s entry level contract came to an end, he could have decided to test the Free Agent waters.  He could have seen a team like Chicago who had pieces in place, and could have offered him a max deal.  Instead, Alex wanted to build a winner and bring Washington its first title.

What will happen tonight on ESPN will no doubt be history.  Lebron can stay at home in Cleveland and save a franchise.  Or he can join either the Knicks, or Heat and leave the city that gave him his start in the NBA in the dust.  Whatever he does he has hurt his original team in Cleveland. 

Ovechkin and Crosby did it right when their free agency period came up.  They knew they were the face of their team, and the face of the NHL.  They let their team have the first crack at re-signing them to deals that could enable them to build a team around players.  They didn’t allow their team to strip themselves down to two players on the whole roster just to sign one person.