NBA Lockout Tour In Works

With the National Basketball Association’s 2011-12 season more in doubt as weeks continue to be erased from the schedule with a nasty lockout, players are increasingly looking at the possibility of arranging exhibition tours to fill the gap – and cover missing paychecks.

Players have already put on some exhibitions at the University of Pennsylvania’s Palestra, a gym at Florida International University in Miami and an Oct. 30 game in Puerto Rico that featured the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade and New York Knicks’ Amer’e Stoudemire.

A international tour of NBA superstars is envisioned for far-flung locales including London, Australia and China, according to the Wall Street Journal, provided logistics and player contracts can be worked out.

That may be easier said than done. A person familiar with the proposal told the paper that 18 players will need to sign the necessary contracts – and that has delayed some exhibitions. Even the San Juan show wasn’t announced until Oct. 26.

If the six-date tour comes together as hoped, six top players including LeBron James of the Heat would be in line to earn $1 million, while others would “earn in the mid-six figures,” according to the WSJ. Yet, James along with the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony and New Orleans Hornets’ star Chris Paul pulled out of the San Juan game the day it was announced. A spokesman for James cited a previous commitment.

There’s already precedent for a “lockout league” with the Las Vegas-based Impact Basketball League, which ran for two weeks in September. The financial model of the Impact league differed from the proposed international caravan in that the players involved were already participating in workouts at Impact’s facility and weren’t being paid.

Whether fans will shell out big bucks for what might be viewed as practices remains an open question. But the Miami game did manage to raise $200,000 for charity and was hosted by FIU coach Isiah Thomas, a former NBA star himself. Tickets were priced at $100 and $50 and sold out within hours, according to the WSJ.