The Saudis made the PGA bend the knee. Is the NBA immune?

[Kblaze8855]

Probably….right?

The Saudi’s have unlimited finances and threw deals at PGA guys too good to decline. Dudes got 200 million signing bonuses…but some refused.

Rory is said to have turned down like 500 million and Tiger said no to 800. 800 ****ing million dollars. He said no.

But some small time(relative) guys did too. One guy who has 15 million in earnings turned down 130 million.

Most of them claimed moral issues with blood money and/or loyalty to the PGA. Then the PGA itself sold out and merged.

All those people who didn’t take the money now work for the same people they told to **** off….only without the signing bonus.


We are lucky they didn’t come for the nba before salaries exploded. They could buy euroleague teams and offer hundreds of millions. Some of our stars would have folded if they weren’t already tycoon rich from the nba. Those little 12 million dollar deals wouldn’t fend off Saudi money. Hell current deals might not.


For 500 million?



Who in the nba do you think jumps ship to the oil money gang?

[Kblaze8855]

Liv Ball offers Lebron the 800 million Tiger deal he’d walk today wouldn’t he? Tiger is more washed than Lebron but they probably would have paid him a billion.

I dont know how many nba players walk away from a billion. Bet the Saudis would find a way to let you get it largely off the books too.

They offer Steph 500 million in public and 250 in gold/art/estates under the table….

You think he says no?

[tontoz]

NBA players are too rich. The Saudis wouldn't be able to buy enough of them off for a league.

LIV golf is a joke. Nobody is watching but it got their foot in the door for this merger, which is a shock to everyone in the golf world. I suspect there might have been some skeletons in the PGA tour closet that might have come out in discovery for the lawsuit. The commissioner is going to have a lot of explaining to do given his past comments.

[Kblaze8855]

The nba wealth is the saving grace. That’s why I said we are lucky they didn’t come for it a decade ago. Back when a whole title team made 60 million? Which was early 2000s?

You’d get a hell of a team with oil money.

[Hey Yo]

You know it had to extremely piss off the PGA when Koepka won the that major a few weeks ago.

[Real Men Wear Green]

I don't know exactly who says yes and who says no but if the NBA is getting outbid there would be defectors. Some guys would reject Saudi money on principal but there are plenty that either don't know much about it or are willing to sell their moral objections. Or just don't care about issues.

[bdonovan]

The arguments against the Saudis that I've read online don't seem to add up. Particularly the arguments that they are murderous and using golf for sportswashing, to cover up for their crimes.

The argument that they're murderous comes from killing one person (Khashoggi) whereas we are reported to have killed about 200,000 innocents, including women and children, in the Middle East (and we're halfway around the world from there) in our numerous wars in the last 25 years.

200,000 > 1

To see how ludicrous the idea of sportswashing is, do we in the US offer up the PGA or NBA to distract people from the countless wars we've been in (from Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya to Syria)? Do we serve up the MLB to distract from or torture laboratory in Guantanamo and our other human rights violations? Actually maybe they have a point.......

Saudi's LIV was good for the game because it offered an alternative to the PGA monopoly. Too bad they merged.

Rory claimed to turn LIV down on principle but he realized his endorsements would suffer and that's where he makes a lot of money. Same with Tiger Woods. Enough American consumers mindlessly adopt negative stereotypes about foreign countries, particularly those not in the West so avoiding LIV was wise for their pocketbook.

Could they do this with the NBA? Well their strategy was to start LIV and then sue the PGA for being a monopoly. I don't think LIV was even that successful. So that playbook might work elsewhere.

To compare:

*NBA: "The NBA's current TV deals expire after the 2024-25 season and, by all accounts, they expect a significant rise in annual payouts from broadcasting partners, with a 2021 report saying that they are looking to triple their rights fees from $2.6 billion annually to between $7 and $8 billion annually"

* Golf: "The current agreement runs through 2021, and is estimated to pay the PGA Tour $400 million annually."

The revenue involved does not seem in the same ballpark. It is like a 10x difference at least from TV revenue.

One team - the Golden State Warriors- pay $235M a year to their players. So actually now that I run the numbers, it seems possible. It would be about $6 billion a year for salaries I'm guessing. And as you can see the TV revenue would seem to cover that. Their PIF fund I believe has hundreds of billions of dollars.

Regarding Steph and LeBron, I'd say for whichever player depends on endorsements for a bulk of their income (I'm talking superstars), people with Nike deals, the answer is a resounding NO because playing for the Saudis would compromise their image.

[Kblaze8855]

Isn’t the Chinese basketball league controlled by the state?

If you’ll play for China you’ll play for the Saudis. And most of the league wouldn’t turn down Chinese money.

[Kblaze8855]

The arguments against the Saudis that I've read online don't seem to add up. Particularly the arguments that they are murderous and using golf for sportswashing, to cover up for their crimes.

The argument that they're murderous comes from killing one person (Khashoggi) whereas we are reported to have killed about 200,000 innocents, including women and children, in the Middle East (and we're halfway around the world from there) in our numerous wars in the last 25 years.

200,000 > 1

So what do you hate most? Truth, justice, or the American way?

[Jasper]

You know it had to extremely piss off the PGA when Koepka won the that major a few weeks ago.

what I would of like Koepka to have said when he excepted the trophy ... long LIVe LIV players.

THE PGA WOULD stopped them from playing in the grand slam.
Like I said before , will LIV create a Major that PGA players will participate in ???

LIV players were 100% bought... that is their bullseye on thei rback ... bought for a price.

Will the NBA or some organization buy NBA players ???

NBA players make more than golf players.... so I say NO

[Stephonit]

what I would of like Koepka to have said when he excepted the trophy ... long LIVe LIV players.

THE PGA WOULD stopped them from playing in the grand slam.
Like I said before , will LIV create a Major that PGA players will participate in ???

LIV players were 100% bought... that is their bullseye on thei rback ... bought for a price.

Will the NBA or some organization buy NBA players ???

NBA players make more than golf players.... so I say NO

What's wrong with selling out to the Saudis? People buy their oil everyday.

[iamgine]

If I have "unlimited" money and want the NBA to fold, I'd poach the college stars. NBA is weak because of salary cap. What if the Saudis are willing to pay all the upcoming #1-5 draft pick $20M tax free a season? Paolo Banchero is "only" paid $5M after tax. Would he really choose to go to the NBA in that case? Would Wambenyama? The NBA would lose a lot of credibility. Or forced to raise salaries so high it's not sustainable.

[ILLsmak]

NBA players are too rich. The Saudis wouldn't be able to buy enough of them off for a league.

LIV golf is a joke. Nobody is watching but it got their foot in the door for this merger, which is a shock to everyone in the golf world. I suspect there might have been some skeletons in the PGA tour closet that might have come out in discovery for the lawsuit. The commissioner is going to have a lot of explaining to do given his past comments.

Na some under the table shit happened which is why it’s such a joke. It’s not even a joke because Saudi bought em out. It’s a joke cuz how they acted so ridiculously to people, like they fought and fought, ppl say tiger said no but I imagine it’d be the same for Bron, prol contract stuff that wouldn’t allow it. Doubt pga contracts are that tight and their endorsement deals, same.

I’m for better bball and more prosperity. If u think saudis are the worst of worst dono, u bin brainwarshed. Not gonna happen tho. Saudi prol low key racist. This is mad racist, but it’s a life observation, a lot of middle eastern people are not pro black n they def aren’t pro pride. Golf is the whitest shit ever. Rich, white. It fits. Bball not so much. But if they wanna field some teams good luck. Remm it’s not one guy but they need a whole staff and team and facilities.

It’s possible but likely not seen as worth.

-Smak

[ILLsmak]

Isn’t the Chinese basketball league controlled by the state?

If you’ll play for China you’ll play for the Saudis. And most of the league wouldn’t turn down Chinese money.

The nba is prol largely funded by china. U underestimate(?) how much china was able to snatch when our stuff crashed. Chinese money is par for the course no pun. And they are commies so they don’t have morals, even misguided morals like Saudi. So they’ll do whatever gets best end.

-Smak

[bdonovan]

So what do you hate most? Truth, justice, or the American way?

None. Just pointing out that we tend to fly into rage against foreign countries until we actually assess what our own record is like in terms of brutality and human rights.