The NBA recently made new TV deals with ESPN and TNT. Reportedly, those lucrative deals will increase the already high value of the many major market teams in the league. But recently, star forward LeBron James has said that the NBA owners had better share some of those spoils with the players, since the big money is generated by the excitement of watching them play. After all, who's gonna pay for LeBron's new hair plugs?
LeBron James has a lot of leverage. He has more power than practically any other player in the league. But often, he seems to wield it to serve the best interests of all the players, rather than just himself. James has a rare combination of keen business intellect as well as superior athletic skills.
He even topped an anonymous poll of NBA GM's as a fantasy league first overall pick (via USA Today):
"But that they would still start a rebuilding effort with the soon-to-be 30-year-old is revealing, a clear sign that they don't expect him to slow down anytime soon now that he's starting over again in his home state - especially now that he used a no-carbohydrates, no-sugar diet to shed more than 10 pounds in this latest offseason."
More important than his abilities on the court, though, is his ability to use his leverage to better conditions for the players.
In his mind, the NBA owners should share the wealth a little more freely with the talent, because the talent is what generates all that revenue in the first place.
Especially in the case of a new TV deal, James says during the next Collective Bargaining Agreement owners won't be able to "cry poor" when players demand higher salaries or, God forbid, stock options (via New York Times):
"I kind of knew something was in the works and something was going to get done, as far as with Turner and ESPN and our league. Everyone should be educated about it."
James has reportedly noted the high value of certain big market teams, most notably the recent sale of the LA Clippers at nearly $2 billion, strengthening his claim that the players deserve a bigger slice of the pie.
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