The Start of a Future Trend?

One of the facets of the NBA lockout is the desire by the owners to have a hard salary cap. This cap number, which is thought to be around $60Million, would serve to lower the salaries of players across the NBA, which would make the ridiculous contracts given to role players seemingly a thing of the past.

As such, players, particularly those that would not be considered star caliber, may look to other avenues to maximize their income. One such way would be to play for a professional team overseas, where they do not have such guidelines. Previously, foreign leagues had been seen as a last resort for those not good enough for the NBA, or for those players whose peak had passed them by, yet they still thought they had something to offer (see Iverson, Allen).

However, this has begun to change. In hockey, Jaromir Jagr spent three seasons playing in the KHL for Avangard Omsk before returning this past week to the NHL. Evgeni Nabokov later joined him in the KHL, signing with SKA St. Petersburg. Even in basketball, Josh Childress played for Olympiacos Piraeus in the Euroleague, turning down a contract from the Atlanta Hawks for one that was worth the equivalent of $15Million per year in Greece.

Fast forward to yesterday, when Real Madrid in the Spanish ACB offered Rudy Fernandez a six year contract that would make him the highest paid player in the history of the league. The proposed contract would pay roughly $4.25Million per year, which is a million dollars more than the qualifying offer that he would receive next season as a free agent. Given the potential of a vastly altered financial landscape in the NBA, this contract may be better than what Fernandez could get in America.

Now, Fernandez is a decent player, but he is a role player. He is not, and will never be, a centerpiece for a championship team. He is a bench player who can come in and drain a three. That's all. In all likelihood, it would make sense for him to go overseas, where he could be a primary scorer and make more money there than to play for ten minutes a night here.

Now, this is just the possible tip of the iceberg. Role players going overseas won't matter a big deal to most teams, as a lot of players with a similar skill set can be found elsewhere. But what happens if a star player gets a Godfather offer from a foreign club once the hard cap is instituted? Let's say that Kevin Durant becomes a free agent, and a Euroleague team offers him $25Million a year. Does he take what would be much less to stay in the NBA, or does he jump overseas for the money?

Sports like basketball and hockey have to worry about foreign teams going after some of their players as it stands now. The NBA may need to worry a lot more about this in the near future.