Lockout Could Result in NBA Players Passing on London Olympics

If you are one of those people who enjoys Olympic basketball and still thinks about the Dream Team, the NBA lockout could put a kink in your plans. If the lockout continues and the upcoming NBA season is cancelled, the Players’ Association will almost certainly pressure the players to bail on the 2012 USA Olympic team.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the NBA and USA Olympic team are too intertwined for NBA players to take part in the 2012 London Games. He refers to Team USA as a “David Stern production,” adding that while it will be a sticky public relations situation there’s no way NBA players and coaches could represent Team USA while the labor situation is uncertain. Jerry Colangelo, the managing director for USA Basketball, works under Stern. Additionally, the NBA’s biggest sponsor is Nike, which is also the top sponsor of Team USA.

After a disappointing 2004 performance in Greece that resulted in a bronze medal, the star power returned to Team USA and Mike Krzyzewski led a rejuvenated squad to a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. While USA Basketball will not be a top priority until a new NBA collective bargaining agreement is hammered out, it would be disappointing to see USA Basketball take yet another fall from grace.

H/T to I am a GM

Note: This post also appeared at Yardbarker’s Olympics Blog Medal Detector.