The NBA has a looming problem

In the wake of the Carmelo Anthony trade to the Knicks, a pattern has begun to develop. At this point, players have begun colluding amongst themselves, agreeing to play for a specific teams in order to build a few 'super teams'. Now, there is nothing illegal about this on the dies of the players, but if the owners were to get together in order to lower salaries, it would be a severe issue. Nothing quite like a double standard.

When did this all begin? In terms of athletes intentionally creating the 'super team' concept, it leads back to the Boston Celtics in the 2007-08 season, when Ray Allen and Paul Pierce pleaded with Kevin Garnett to join them in Boston. With the formation of the 'Big Three', the die had been cast.

Fast forward to this past off-season. LeBron, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh meet several times, and decide to partner up in Miami to create their own Super Team, only their version is a younger, more dynamic group with three players entering their prime. It doesn't matter that the Heat no longer have anything resembling a surrounding cast to support them, as there was no longer any room under the cap. They have their version of the Big Three scoring roughly 68.6% of the team's points. The fourth leading scorer? Udonis Haslem, who is out for a long time at 8.0 points per game. Behind him? We find Eddie House at 6.9 points per.

Now, the New York Knicks are joining the party. After picking up Amare Stoudemire through free agency, they picked up Carmelo Anthony, who forced the Denver Nuggets to trade him. So who is the third piece? None other than Chris Paul, who joined Carmelo and Amare in toasting to playing together in New York during Carmelo's wedding. Paul happens to be a free agent after next season, so don't expect him to sign an extension in New Orleans.

The NBA is rapidly becoming a collection of the haves against the have nots. Why play in a place like Toronto or Sacramento, when you can force that team to deal you to a team like Miami or New York? Why attempt to build something in an area that truly enjoys basketball, but happens to be in the middle of nowhere? After all, image is so much more important than the game, right?

This is something that David Stern needs to look at during the collective bargaining agreement. The league may become nothing more than six to eight teams loaded with superstars, while the rest of the teams either have to fold or play in obscurity. A hard salary cap would help to fix this issue. So would creating a franchise type tag in the NBA. But regardless of what they determine the answer to be, this needs to be fixed. And soon.