By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
It’s as weird as it sounds, but in many corners of Europe basketball players, while having the obligations of professionals, are not treated like that.
The debate started with a twitter rant by Nikola Kalinic, member of the EuroLeague champions Fenerbahce with many other players approving and signing up everything that the Serb forward wrote.
Those are all valid points and there’s no doubt that the NBA is better – specially for the players – in every aspect and most importantly financial-wise. However by far the most important is the issue of rest.
In Europe, top players from an early age have to practice twice a day and spend their summers with the junior national teams. There’s nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that in many cases the same players play in two, or even three national teams official tournaments. How can this happen you ask?
Born in 1997, Vasilis Charalampopoulos was part of the senior Greek national team last summer and he played in the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament. After that he was added in the Green U20 national team and played also at the second division Eurobasket which was held in Greece. This is common practice for many talented players all around Europe and even if youngsters don’t make the final senior team, they are part of the training camp. Of course that does not mean that they are pushed without taking into account their physical condition. Still, they are losing days of vacation and rest.
If you ask yourselves why many European players are retiring at a relatively early age from their national teams, you just got your answer. FIBA understood the problem and in the new calendar there’s a summer without any tournament every three years. Still the added windows for qualifying games further elongate the season. It remains to be seen with NBA players being officially excused from national team qualifying duty and EuroLeague denying to comply with FIBA calendar which players will be part of the national teams during those games. In the US this issue was solved with NBADL players being the ones who will represent their country in the FIBA World Cup qualifying games. In Europe only with EuroLeague, FIBA and the domestic leagues collaborating a solution can be found.
“Another day, another dollar”
While for the American players who compete in Europe the national team tournaments are not an issue, the fact remains that the season is longer compared to the one in the NBA. It starts earlier and in some cases ends after the NBA finals.
Most of the top US players who compete in Europe have an off-season of two months. If you take into account personal training, or a summer league, then very few time is left in order to visit family and have real vacations. The average European fan simply can’t understand that for many US players it’s not easy being away from home for nine or 10 months, even when you are getting paid handsomely. Add also the fact that outside the Euroleague the contracts are not high and players may end up in some cases not even getting paid what they have signed for and you get the full picture. After all, what makes the Chinese CBA alluring for many US players compared to Europe is not only the money, but the short season.
A union
What can be the solution on all that? It’s obvious that the players should have a voice and outside the annual meeting of the EuroLeague captains, this can only be achieved by a union. And here’s where the situation gets tricky. There are already local players unions in most European countries and in some cases, like in Spain and France, they are doing a great job. The Spanish players’ union even provides a pension, something unthinkable for players in most parts of Europe. Still their concern is mainly the domestic leagues.
In the past, former EuroLeague champ David Rivers tried to start an international players’ union, but this effort didn’t provide any substantial result. It seems that now the time is right to have a version of the NBPA in Europe. How this can be done and how this can be organized, it’s up to the players themselves. After all, even millionaires need a union and in this case, many of the players in Europe are not even millionaires.