NBA Lockout News: Owners Want a Piece of NBA Players' Endorsements

During this year’s lockout, there were times where I was standing firm in my position on the owners’ side that the players needed to give a little to return to US courts.

For there to be any activity in the league both sides need to come together and cooperate at the negotiation table. Whether either side appreciates the fact of life or not, both need each other to survive.

However, now that a source close to the situation, according to NBA.com’s David Aldridge, is saying that the owners have a group of heinous goals in the new CBA, I have jumped ship. One of the more confusing points in the aim of the owners is to include players’ commercial endorsements and sponsorship money in the pool of basketball related income. Why?

Simply because they are tired of making the players rich. What would happen in every NBA player said they were tired of making the owners rich?

Let us not be so swift to forget why the league is so successful in the first place. Players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard make this league what it is. Ownership asks players to give their all every step of the way and why? So that their franchise continues to receive the respect and the financial fortitude that they expected to come forth when they made their primary investment.

It amazes me how players are consistently questioned about their motives when ownership is rarely put under the scope when they release a player without as much as a phone call or video chat.

Everyone was on Dan Gilbert’s side when LeBron James left, but how many people would have faulted Gilbert for releasing James? If the tables had been turned and James was ultimately released or given an offer he had to refuse, how many people would have shaken their finger at the Cavaliers organization?

No one.

Why? We are surrounded by people have become numb to the actions of ownership but are emotionally shaken when athletes take their future into their own hands.

The argument would have been given that it was time for a change in Cleveland and LeBron’s 6’8" 250 lb. stature coupled with his backbreaking averages with the Cavaliers, toppling 30 points per and never falling beneath 26 points per after his rookie season, was not enough to shake the stigma.

What about how Brandon Roy was treated in Portland after returning from injury? He was the NBA’s star child just moments before he was benched due to injury.

Even after his return to the game, when he was not participating to what everyone thought was his full ability, there were talks of shipping him out of the organization. Even after a late 20-plus point comeback against the eventual NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, there were rumors that the Portland Trailblazers were going to ask the 27-year-old to retire.

How fair is that?

Owners sit in their free seats with their families while watching their players, sometimes unappreciated and underpaid, put their sweat, blood and tears into the game they love but play for their well-being. Rarely does an owner take responsibility for what is going on during a game or after the outcome has been announced.

Did anyone chuckle at the sound of Jerry Reinsdorf’s name when Derrick Rose failed to lead the Chicago Bulls to the NBA Finals? Did anyone even mention Ted Leonsis when talking about Washington Wizards’ assists per game average of 19.4 per, ranking 29th in the league, even though they have arguably one of the better point guards on their squad?

How about the comments being tossed around when Cleveland hit a record of futility? Did anyone cry foul of Dan Gilbert? Or were fans falling all over the players to get their acts together?

I think everyone would find the latter to be true.

So while owners would like to spread the word about their woes compared to the players, maybe they should evaluate who got them in the financial position they are in today. As previously stated, both sides need each other equally. Neither one more than the other.

That goes especially directed towards the owners.

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