No Basketball Anymore

Pinoys love basketball. Pinoys love the NBA. I am one of them. But for whatever reason, the NBA is nowhere to be found these days. What happened to the world's best basketball league?

Since July 1, 2011, the NBA has been off the world sporting map because of the lengthy lockout. It was a word war between the players and the owners, mediated my the league's braintrust headed by commissioner David Stern. The discussions involve the revised collective bargaining agreement, sharing of player revenue, and even parity among the big-city teams and mid-to-small market teams. The season schedule was released in August 2011, but with the lockout persisting, there is no choice but to cancel games. As of today, the earliest start to a new season would be December 15. But right now, team facilities were deserted, arena revenue suffered, and even postgame dinners declined and partying revenue was lost.

As a result, several NBA players moved to other leagues around the world. Prominent players who took their acts overseas include Deron Williams, Tony Parker and Andrei Kirilenko. While these players have opt-out contracts that would enable their return to their NBA mother teams once the lockout ends, in China, there is no such thing as an opt-out contract. Wilson Chandler and Kenyon Martin, among others, have no choice but to stay in China for the season. There has also been talk of Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James taking their acts overseas, but as of now there has been little progress regarding their intentions.

And speaking of Kobe Bryant, while the NBA lockout talks continued, he visited the Philippines twice; first as a Nike endorser, and then as part of the 'Smart All-Stars' team (Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul included) that played against an all-PBA selection and the Smart Gilas team in July. In September, another Smart All-Star in JaVale McGee returned to the Philippines to conduct basketball clinics; he also entertained thoughts of becoming a naturalized Filipino for Smart Gilas, while Fil-Am coach Erik Spoelstra returned home for another round of offseason basketball clinics.

Since the lockout began, there is no known promotion and mention towards current NBA players relating to their teams, and the NBA.com website continues to promote its legends and their history. NBA TV and its Philippine counterpart Basketball TV currently air retrospective programs along with classic NBA games, in addition to providing the latest lockout news. Even the recent NBA Madness event in September saw NBA legend Clyde Drexler fly to Manila to promote the league, and the Basketball Without Borders program saw the likes of Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutombo conduct basketball clinics in Africa and provide charity work. The NBA has been of little mention since then, from print media and even online.

The only time in the history of American pro sports that saw the cancellation of a season even before it began was when the National Hockey League cancelled the 2004-05 season even before the start of opening day. Major League Baseball already had baseball games wiped out because of such labor issues, but a cancellation of the entire 162-game season never happened. They cancelled games in the summer of 1981, and then had the entire 1994 season stopped two months short of completion (cancelling postseason play as well), and did not commence the new season until early April 1995. The National Football League had a brief lockout from April to July 2011, but their 2011 regular season ran as scheduled. If the NBA were to end the season before it began, they may become the second league to do so, after the NHL.

With that in mind, we may declare that there is indeed, no basketball anymore. But while the NBA is not present, the other hoops leagues of the world (PBA included) would provide the alternative for any desperate hoops aficionado. There may be no NBA, but there is no reason to stop loving the game of basketball.