NBA Rumors: LeBron James and Company Planning World Tour, According to Reports

The latest news from the NBA rumor mill speculates that LeBron James and many of his young NBA companions are planning a world tour. 

According to ESPN, an Atlanta business man—along with the players' agents—has been organizing a tour for the past three months and is hoping to seal the deal in the next few days.

This ragtag group of barnstormers will likely take the global stage to play exhibition games during what was supposed to be the first two weeks of the 2012 NBA regular season. 

Sorry, did I say "ragtag group of barnstormers," I should have said "entourage heavy group of multi-millionaires."

Proposed exhibition sights for the tour would include Puerto Rico, London, Macau and Australia. 

The reported NBA superstars that are signed on are as follows: Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Blake Griffin, Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love.

Now, there are two ways you can look at this. 

This first is that these players simply want to stay in shape and continue to play basketball during the NBA lockout. 

They are putting this tour together to stay sharp and at the same time bringing the joy of basketball to the rest of the world.  Isn't it great that they all get along so well that they can pull something like this together?

You could say that, but I prefer to look at it the second way.

This whole exhibition is a statement meant to thumb their collective noses at the NBA. And when I say NBA, I mean David Stern. 

It is the superstar athlete version of taking their ball and going home.  While showing David Stern that they don't need the NBA to play basketball, these players will go play anywhere and people will come to watch. 

If this goes well, the next logical step would be to just start their own league.

Let's summarize. These NBA stars are so concerned about the fans and ending the NBA lockout that instead of sticking around and working to end this thing they are going on what amounts to a road trip? 

You remember going on road trips in college don't you?  You and your buddies sitting around the dorm—no classes for whatever reason—just playing video games and eating Doritos.  Then someone yells, "ROAD TRIP!" and you all jump in your 1989 Honda Civic and drive to Ann Arbor to party. 

Ok, maybe that was just me.

But, that is basically what these NBA guys are doing.  Except they won't be piling into a Civic, it will be a learjet. 

Here is a suggestion, how about doing a basketball tour here in the United States?  You know, staging a tour on your home turf where all your fans are.  The fans that you expect to stay loyal to you after the lockout is done.  The fans that shell out their hard-earned money to watch you play.  The same fans that are not able to watch games currently because of the lockout.  How about doing something for them?

Please don't think that these players are doing this for free either.  Some of the money will go to charity, yes, but according to Insidehoops.com those participating in the tour will earn a salary ranging from "six figures up to $1 million."

What do you expect, they need to make a living too.

Remember back in the '80s and early '90s when basketball was at its apex and the best athletes wanted to rip each others hearts out?  You would have never seen Magic and Bird go on vacation together in the offseason.  Isaiah Thomas and Michael Jordan still don't talk to each other.

Now, all our greatest NBA stars are chums.  They text each other every day and are Facebook friends. They join up and take over teams.  No one really wants to be "the man" anymore.  They want to win Championships, but with their buddies.  This is why an exhibition tour like the one proposed can even happen.

My point is: Times have changed.  This kind thing would never have happened in the days of Jordan and Bird.  They were too busy getting better so they could kick each others' butts.

In the end, I don't think these NBA stars are intentionally dissing their fans in the United States.  I just think they are oblivious.  They lack the insight to think about things from the perspective of others, namely their fanbase. 

But in the big scheme of things, I think this is just another example of what is wrong with the NBA.

With the lockout taking more games away from fans by the week, is this what basketball really needs?