Olympics: US stars admit they could leave NBA for Europe

Olympics: US stars admit they could leave NBA for Europe

Olympics 2008: Basketball

Beijing countdown, basketball
Olympics: US stars admit they could leave NBA for Europe
'Can I imagine leaving? Yes, it's a possibility,' says LeBron

LeBron James

NBA stars like LeBron James could soon be plying their trade in Europe. Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

The superstars of American basketball, gathered in Beijing for the Olympics, spoke with one voice today and what they had to say will have caused great consternation at the headquarters of the NBA, long considered the pre-eminent league in the world and the lodestar for any player with ambition. Until now, that is.

"Growing up you can't imagine not playing in the NBA but things are changing really fast around the world. I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket, business wise,'' said LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, one of the on-court leaders of the US squad due to start its Olympic campaign against China tomorrow night. "Can I imagine leaving [the NBA]? Yes, it's a possibility."

James's comments come just days after he let it be known through surrogates he would consider abandoning the States for Europe if a club was willing to pay him $50m a year, and it emerged today he is not the only restless member of the US squad.

"It has certainly been one of the hot topics of our training camp over the last few weeks,'' confirmed Jason Kidd, the US team's point guard, when asked if he could foresee a time when the best American-born players would forsake their homeland. "The rest of the world is getting better at basketball and the money is there. That is why we have already seen some guys make the move overseas."

In the last decade "foreign" players have joined NBA teams in ever increasing numbers, among them Yao Ming, who will carry the Chinese flag at tonight's opening ceremony, and Dirk Nowitzki, who will carry out the same duties for the German team. But in recent months, a number of NBA players have accepted offers to play overseas, the most prominent of whom was Josh Childress , who opted out of his contract with the Atlanta Hawks and signed with the Greek club Olympiakos in a deal worth $20m after tax over three years – far in excess of what his former club was willing to offer him.

Other players who have made the move in recent weeks include Earl Boykins, who swapped the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats for Virtus Bologna in Italy, and Nened Krstic, who ended a four-year association with the New Jersey Nets to sign with Triumph Moscow in a deal worth $9m a year. In all three cases the salaries offered by the European clubs were far in excess of what the players' former clubs, bound by the NBA's strict "salary cap", were willing or able to pay.

European clubs have no salary cap rules, and it now seems some of them have no inhibitions when it comes to spending whatever it takes to attract NBA players. So far, none of the league's biggest stars have been tempted abroad but some observers, Childress among them, believe it is an inevitability. James, for one, has long spoken of his desire to transform himself into a global brand, similar to those established by Tiger Woods and David Beckham. "I am sure there is a team that would be willing to do it [pay James $50m a year]. That just shows that the game of basketball is global now and not just about the US. Hopefully, we would be on the same team,'' Childress said.

Ironically, talk of players like James and his Olympic team mate Kobe Bryant, winner of the NBA's most valuable player award last season, moving overseas comes at a time when the league's commissioner, David Stern, has spoken of his desire to expand into Europe, with teams playing in cities such as London, Moscow and Barcelona.

The reputation of American basketball suffered a serious dent at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, when the US team suffered a series of defeats en route to winning the bronze medal, but the NBA's pre-eminence in world basketball has never been challenged. Typically, a league spokesman was sceptical this week about the prospect of players such as James heading overseas. " I don't want to say it is much ado about nothing … but it's not something we are losing sleep about,'' he said, although he might feel a little less confident today after James' remarks, not to mention those of US team members Dwayne Wade and Carlos Boozer.

"When you see Josh Childress getting all that money it makes you think,'' said Wade, who plays for the Miami Heat. "If LeBron made the jump then you never know. All bets would be off." Boozer sounded even more intrigued. "I'm a businessman. If some team in Europe made me an astronomical offer then I would have to consider it. If my wife was down with it, and the money was right, then sure I would do it."