NBA Lockout: 5 Players Who Stand to Lose Most If Season Is Canceled

If the rampant rumors are to be believed, the NBA is headed for a long and brutal work stoppage.

Yesterday, the executive director of the Players Association Billy Hunter said he felt that the entire 2011-12 NBA season was likely to be canceled. This is of course a worst-case scenario for players and fans of the game.

The average NBA salary is approximately $6 million a year and the average career lasts about four-and-three-quarters seasons.  A lost season will mean that for many players nearly 25 percent of their careers will spent on the sidelines in a labor dispute.

Certain players will lose out in other forms beyond just financial ones. Every upcoming NBA season has some key story lines and the 2011-12 would be no different.

While everyone will lose with no hoops this fall these five players will lose the most.

5. Chris Paul

When Paul came into the league, he had an immediate impact. Then, in his third season he emerged as a legitimate MVP candidate.

He led the Hornets to the postseason and averaged over 20 points per game and over 11 assists as well. Chris Paul would be a a 27-year-old All-Star caliber point guard entering unrestricted free agency at the conclusion of the upcoming season.

That status would make him the focal point of never-ending trade rumors this coming season. It would also provide him a chance to join a top contender for an NBA title.

Knicks, Lakers, Celtics? Who knows? One thing is certain, and that's a lost season is a big loss for Chris Paul.

4. Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. He's not the most loved but his accomplishments place him among the NBA elite.

Last season was one of the toughest of his career. A solid but not spectacular regular season was reduced to rubble when the Lakers get totally dominated by the eventual NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs.

Bryant will be 33 at the beginning of next season, and he is officially past his athletic prime. The time remaining for Kobe to add another title to his collection is shrinking, and a lost season will close that window even further.

The Lakers team he is on has a collection of either talented but also aging players like Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher as well as some younger players who are not top tier NBA talent, such as Andrew Bynum, Shannon Brown and Darius Morris.

3. Derrick Rose

The MVP award always provokes controversy. Last season, Derrick Rose won the MVP at the age of only 22.

He was the youngest MVP in NBA history, and in the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat, his youth finally impacted his performance. Rose looked a bit overwhelmed by the defensive intensity the Heat threw at him.

He forced shots, had a few more turnovers than usual and was clearly in over his head as the playoffs progressed.

Rose is no doubt chomping at the bit to get back on the court and validate his MVP season and his place at the top of the NBA's very crowded list of great young point guards, but if the season is cancelled, Rose will just have to wait to show everyone that his MVP award was well deserved.

 

2. Dirk Nowitzki

As great a run as Dirk had last season—and it was one of the all-time playoff runs—he still has only one ring. That's more than some NBA greats have ever managed.

It's also less than guys like Bird, Magic, Jordan, Shaq, Olajuwon, Kobe and Duncan have.

Great competitors are always looking for the next great challenge, and the only thing tougher than winning a first ring is repeating and getting a second.

Dirk is 33 years old, and should this coming season evaporate, he'll be 34 by the time the 2012-2013 season starts. Can he repeat at that age? Maybe but I guarantee he'd prefer not to wait that long for his shot.

1. LeBron James

When LeBron famously declared that the Heat would win "not one, not two, not three, not four..." NBA titles he instantly placed a tremendous amount of pressure onto his sizable shoulders.

As big as those shoulders are, they couldn't carry the weight of the NBA Finals this past June as LeBron played poorly in the NBA Finals, and the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in six games.

No player in the NBA, possibly in NBA history, is in as big a rush to get back on the court as LeBron James is right now.

Love him or hate him, make no mistake about it. LeBron's talent is simply staggering, and he's in his prime right now.

He's 26 years old, 27 this December. He has one of the best players in the league as his teammate in Dwyane Wade. Wade will turn 30 and having already endured a few injuries, won't be at the top of his game much longer.

LeBron's focus has gone from counting his rings to a quest for just one. Until he gets that ring his reputation will be on the line.

Right now the list of greatest players to play in the NBA and not get a ring is a cluttered collection of Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton, Steve Nash and Elgin Baylor.

Experts could debate forever who is the greatest among that group. If LeBron doesn't get a ring, they'll be no debate about who the best player without a title in NBA history is.