On Friday night I received a text message from a buddy of mine that read “oh my Paul George." I thought George put in a show, a going 10/10 from three kind of show, showcasing why he is one of the fastest rising stars in the game. Sadly I was wrong, we all knew what happened.
Information started to come out that the stanchion at the Thomas & Mack Center was an inch below required distance for the NBA. So there is to blame to somewhere, the basketball stanchion, I get the outrage. What happened to Paul George is sad and terrible. But this is where people tend to be shortsighted. The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels play their home games there and have not had one reported injury of this kind. This is a situation where a freak injury had occurred. It just so happened to be one the NBA’s top players that got injured on national television.
The next question became whether we allow our NBA talent take part in international play and risk an NBA owner footing the bill of the players salary and potentially lose their superstar? This is another shortsighted argument. Let’s go ahead and just send our college athletes to play in international competition.
Here is what we know. Paul George will make his money no matter what. He is guaranteed to make $90 million over the length of his contract. But we should send a college kid to play while not being insured and has no earning. What we have to remember is there have been no documented injuries to college kids in international play.The hypocrisy is pretty good, for the past couple years there has been an outcry of paying college players. Schools are making large amount of revenue off these kids and we want them to get paid. So knowing all this information, let us send our “future NBA stars” to play in international games and risk losing next superstar. Maybe we should just end all basketball so no one ever gets a freak injury again.
NBA players are gym rats, they play pickup games year round whether it is outdoors at Rucker Park or in a gym. What would be the argument if this injury happened during an offseason workout or pickup game? Brian Windhorst left a little interesting nugget for his readers. Raving about the competitiveness these players have. After every US Men's team practice, Kevin Durant, James Harden and Paul George play one-on-one basketball for 30 minutes. Now let's imagine our reactions to one of the league's stars getting injured while playing “King of the Mountain”. Maybe we should just end all basketball related activities so no one ever gets hurt.
Every offseason there is a league called “The Drew League” it is sponsored by Nike. The league has had participants ranging from LeBon James all the way down to Paul George. The Drew League has been around for over 40 years. I don’t really expect many casual NBA fans to know about this league. I didn’t know about it until it creeped up on my timeline. How would fans react if Paul George or Lebron James got injured in this league? I predict the outrage would be reaching all the way to moon, the hot takes would be all over the television screen and the meme’s would be unbearable. Maybe we should just end all NBA promotion and prohibit its stars from playing in The Drew League.
This brings me along to the NBA Summer League, a great chance for prospective players and current draftees to get some extra minutes in with NBA competition prior to the start of the season. A great way in determinant who can play in the league and who can’t. Basketball junkies love this league, gives each fanbase to get an early glimpse at the team’s first round pick in action and allows them to overreact. Now lets play the same sequence from Fridays scrimmage with Andrew Wiggins and Isaiah Cannon. And Wiggins suffers an injury in the summer league, he falls on a camera man or on the basketball stanchion. How would we feel after that? A teams future is altered, a players career is altered, but maybe we should end all summer league play as well.
One thing I have always thought about when watching NBA games is when an NBA player dives for a loose ball underneath the basket and falls on to a camera man and rolls his ankle. We all remember Dennis Rodman kicking a cameraman. We are in 2014, we have Go Pro’s, cameras that have an unbelievable zoom. I know they have to make their money as well but do they really have to be that close to the basket and risk injuring a player? I remember vividly watching the Miami Heat and LeBron James against the LA Clippers. James rolls his ankle on a cameraman, jogs back in the court sinks a three and then misses games. It's an obvious question fans ask because it does not make sense. But maybe we should just leave the photographers/cameraman sit on the court because of the pictures.
The NBA is a global league right now. They pride themselves on that. Superstars such as Dirk Nowitzki and Tony Parker making their name as an overseas player coming to the NBA. Ray Allen goes overseas in China as a brand ambassador. Chris Bosh took a trip to Africa this offseason as a ambassador of the NBA. Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade have a huge following in China. These players are rock stars overseas. This goes with the questioning of allowing these players to play in international ball. Are we going to limit the leagues exposure as a global brand because of an injury? Its counter intuitive in some respects. If other countries are going to send their professionals to play we should send ours. But maybe we should end all international sporting events.
Ultimately, injuries can happen anywhere. Here is a nugget of information, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine, 70% ACL injuries to adults are non-contact related. Injuries can happen anywhere at any time, not just on a nationally televised scrimmage during a non NBA event. It’s a sad reality but it happens. But maybe we should just end all basketball in general. Best idea ever.