NBA Lockout: Can Kobe Bryant and LeBron James Lead a Player-Owned League?

NBA commissioner David Stern recently announced that the league would cancel all games through Dec. 15th, but if you have been paying attention to the on-going labor saga, then the prospects of even more lost games seems very likely.

The players and owners may be further apart right now than at any other point in negotiations, and the union's decision to decertify could lead to a lengthy and prolonged battle in the courts of justice.

Which means the only on-court, hardwood battles NBA fans will see before January will probably take place in the college ranks.

Or, if you are really hard up for an NBA fix, there are always the barn-storming scrimmage games that various league stars have assembled to play in multiple arenas across America.

The spur-of-the-moment events have drawn decent crowds to mostly small venues, and a friend of mine suggested that maybe the players should make the ultimate statement to owners by forming a league of their own.

My friend's idea is not original, and there may have even been several players who broached the subject, but is there really a possibility that a player-owned professional basketball league could work?

In my friend's opinion, the most important first step would be to establish instant credibility by having the game's greatest global stars serve as the primary owners and faces of the new league.

After all, no one packs league arenas to see the owners in the first place, and if it really boils down to the action on the court then there are no better ambassadors of the game than Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant and Miami Heat forward LeBron James.

Both James and Bryant have developed a large international fanbase, and Bryant's recent appearances in China and Europe have drawn crowds by the thousands.

So maybe Bryant, James, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant and others are popular enough to generate legitimate interest in a player-owned league, but that's only part of the equation.

The other half of the equation is completed by money and influence, and unfortunately that is where any dream of a player-owned league that rivals the NBA comes to an abrupt end, because the players don't have enough of either.

The salary of an average NBA player is a little more than $5 million per year, which is nothing compared to the $30 million per year Bryant earns, but imagine how much the guy is worth who writes Bryant and the average player's check?

Like comedian Chris Rock once said, that is the difference between being rich and being wealthy.

Even when you consider the collective wealth that would theoretically be found in the player's strength-in-numbers approach, someone still has to pay the bills, and where would the league hold its games by the way?

Playing in front of 8,000-person crowds is okay when it comes to mostly unorganized practice games, but in order for a player-owned league to generate revenue they will need larger, central venues similar to the places they play right now.

Some NBA arenas are privately owned, and in most cases by principal owners of that city's franchise. Try to imagine any former NBA owner renting out their arena for a slate of games arranged by players.

Players might find it difficult scheduling regular season games in publicly-held arenas as well.

Time-Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, NC is owned by the city, but it is the Charlotte Bobcats' responsibility to manage and operate the building, which effectively means that owner Michael Jordan decides what goes down in the Cable Box.

I'm not sure how many of these arrangements exist in other NBA cities, but I'm guessing Charlotte is not alone.

Of course a player-owned league would not have as many teams as the bloated NBA model, but those teams would still need a permanent home to be taken seriously by true NBA fans.

Maybe in time Bryant and James may join Jordan as the only former NBA player to ever own a majority stake in a franchise, but are they and their peers prepared to create and sustain a player-owned league right now?

Trying to imagine how a player-owned league would look might not be that difficult. Just picture the And1 video series with more accomplished players.