Is there anyone the NBA might need key man insurance on?

[Kblaze8855]

What is key person insurance?

Key person insurance is a type of life insurance policy that provides a death benefit to a business if its owner or another significant employee passes away, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III).
Key person insurance may make sense in many circumstances:
If the business' reputation and financial viability are critically linked to the key employee's name, reputation or unique skills, and the key employee's death could end the business.
If the death of a key employee (like a top salesperson) could quickly threaten the company financially.

Obviously no single person going away(let’s just call it that) would bring the league to its knees. Not literally. Perhaps it never would. Magic and Bird might have been close at one point. It was pretty stable by Jordan’s prime but he would have been closest. Doctor J may have crippled the ABA by the end. Mikan might have early. But I’m talking just….closest to it. No single player would endanger the league but they could “threaten” aspects of the financial outlook as mentioned.

Lebron and Kobe would be the guys in the 2000s-2010s. Lebron and Steph after that.

If the insurance costs something significant like 100 million((it doesn’t) to give the league an extra few billion to counter the economic impact of losing the person/people covered for the coming generation….is there even anyone to bother with?

Does it feel like anyone is so central to the marketing, entertainment element, and so on that they would make a difference league wide if they went away?

You think Jokic just deciding to walk away hurts the league financially? I don’t.

Luka? Giannis?

Probably not.

Has the league spread its star power out enough that this coming era has no obvious “key man” or men to lean on?

And is that a good thing if so?

[Real Men Wear Green]

I don't see any player as being that vital but if James' currently minor steroid scandal blew up it would cause real damage to the leagues reputation. That's not him dying of course b but about as close to this kind of thing as I can think of. If a start player died it would be a sad thing but the fans would still be running in and no one would be saying anything negative.

But even in this case steroids scandal didn't kill baseball.

[Kblaze8855]

Nah that story isn’t really damaging. I think we are past the point allegations like that even get “Breaking news” coverage without failed tests. Besides Lebron and Steph are both too close to retirement to shake the league financially. Them being gone is just natural. A scandal would have to be like…OJ to stick and matter at this point. They’re disposable going forward.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Proof that James was doping through his career would be worse publicity for the league than one of the top 10 players even getting busted for murder. If you take the morality out and just think about it coldly if Jokic was caught with a dead body people would rage but the integrity of championships isn't getting called into question. So they throw him out of the league and make some strong statements but the wins and losses are all still legit. If James on the other hand is found to have started doing in Miami a lot of people will be saying that not only are all of his championships illegitimate but you would also have any player he was good friends with it trained with also have their reputation stained. Aaron Hernandez is an awful story but Deflategate is what people bring up when they want to attack the Patriot legacy. And that's just the psi on some footballs, something that a lot of football fans don't care about. Everyone recognizes the major advantage a player who's doping has over one that is not.

But I do concede that it wouldn't kill the league. We might not even be able to measure the economic impact.

[Kblaze8855]

I’m just not seeing the reaction that suggests people care that much. I’ve literally not heard one person or sports entity reference it. All I’ve seen is the topic on here that it feels like I see some version of all the time. I’m not saying it hasn’t been discussed somewhere by somebody, but it isn’t happening enoug that I just stumble over it in the course of my regular watching and reading about sports.

Doesn’t feel like something people care about that much anymore. I’ve heard about whatever Peyton Manning was supposedly getting in the mail and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody talk about the legitimacy of the Broncos run with him. Same for Kobe and whatever he did with his blood in Germany. You need like…an actual failed test to even get going and start having those legitimacy talks in a major way.

It isn’t 2005 anymore and even when it was it was largely baseball focused other than Lance Armstrong.

you don’t just need a smoking gun you need a ring camera footage of the execution to even create a major conversation.

[Real Men Wear Green]

That's why I called it a minor scandal. The level of suspicion got raised but it's not truly been proven. I am saying if it was proven the scandal would be a big deal.

[Xiao Yao You]

The NBA was supposed to die after MJ. It hasn't though it might have been better off than the product they are giving us now

[Wardell Curry]

Biggest scandal that could wreck the league financially is if multiple top level stars came out and said they are now trans women. LeBron, Steph, Durant, Giannis, shit like this would have a dire financial impact. More than any of them dying. More than steroids. Anyone who is being honest about the topic of steroids will acknowledge that most/all players are doping and have been for a long time including certain players from decades past. Not only are they doing it, but most of the public knows on a subconscious level at a minimum, and most of the public doesn't really care. MLB took the brunt of that topic. And looking back I'm pretty sure that given the financial impact of Bonds, Canseco, Clemens, Rodriguez, McGuire & Sosa roiding it up to the max, it made the fans like the game more than ever if they're also being honest.