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The State Of Overseas Basketball

The opening and continued expansion in overseas markets has been a blessing for basketball agents for two main reasons:

  1. There are more options for placement of their clients at a professional level.
  2. There is new leverage that agents can use when negotiating contracts for their clients, driving up their prices.

But if you talk to basketball agents this year, many will tell you that there seems to be less openings and less money granted to players.  A lot of teams are looking to save money by signing talented domestic players.  Players born overseas are getting better by the year, as foreign countries pay more attention to the athletic development of their youth.  Additionally, there are more U.S. born players looking to play overseas.  With an increase in supply and no clear sign of an increase in demand for U.S. players (due to high price tags), it is not unfathomable to think that it is getting more difficult to place talented players overseas for big money contracts.  There are notable exceptions, but that is exactly what they are…exceptions.  And we read about the exceptions, because they are more newsworthy.

While some teams adhere to a strict budget and will do whatever it takes to keep costs down (including sometimes ignoring paying agent fees or even declining to pay the player the money he deserves based on his contract), others wish that they could spend even more money on talented Americans.  The problem that they have is that there might be a restriction on the number of imports.

Ron Artest recently spoke out about this particular issue.

“They need to let more Americans play in the European leagues. There are only like two [Americans] to a team while Europeans can come to America [and play in the NBA] like the whole San Antonio Spurs team — a whole American team can be full of Europeans. Europe has to be a little more fair to the American players.

You see a lot of foreign players come over to America to play in the NBA. It’s not fair that a lot of American players can’t come to China or can’t come to Europe to play with as many players as they want, so there’s no balance … They should just make it more even.”

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.

2 replies on “The State Of Overseas Basketball”

European countries want their citizens to have jobs…Americans go to Europe because they cannot play in the NBA. European players go to the NBA not because they cannot play in the ACB for example. There’s plenty of markets that don’t impose restrictions on Americans (UK, Germany, Belgium) .Not to mention, the game over here is a different sport, many Americans have trouble adjusting to this style (floor spacing, getting out on big men, extra passes, come off pick and roll looking to pass instead of score,etc,etc.) If the federation of these countries allowed for unlimited Americans, the whole brand of basketball would change with fewer Spanish players available. Then, its difficult for these teams and sponsors to sell their team to the community. .

NBA prides itself on being the best league in the world so they’ll bring in the best players whether you’re American or Lithuanian, But in the domestic European league there is a major emphasis on sponsorship which goes hand in hand with seeing their own players.

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