NBA Stars M.I.A. In Rio: America Needs the Rio Olympics, Even If NBA Stars Aren’t Fully on Board

Thursday, June 30, 2016

John Stupak, Oregon Sports News

We are a country deeply divided. We are divided on politics. We are divided on social issues. We are divided on race and economic status. We are divided on what diet works best, what should be taught in classrooms and churches, and how we should raise our children. Maybe not since the great Cola Wars of the 80s has the nation been so divided. Yet, every two years there is an event that pulls us all back together, a great calling that summons our nation’s best athletes to test the limits of the human endeavor, all for the name of a united country. Unless, that is, you play NBA basketball.

The Summer Olympics are one of those rare times when we as a country cheer in unison, unabashedly and patriotically. We cheer for the athletes as much as we cheer for those shiny gold medals. We consume coverage of inspirational tales about the long, impossible journey it took many of these athletes to get to the Olympics. We marvel at their level of dedication and the time spent pursuing their goal; the blood, sweat and tears it took to reach this stage of global competition.

Which is why this year’s epidemic of NBA players dropping out of the Rio Games this coming August has been one of the more disheartening news of these Olympics so far, Zika virus be damned. Team USA’s basketball lineup was introduced earlier this week and while none of the players are exactly scrubs, given they find Harrison Barnes’ missing double, it is absent a whole lot of firepower and marquee names. We still have All-Stars, MVPs, and high caliber players to be sure, but as a whole it is not the very best we have to offer. For an event that happens once every four years, that’s a shame.

While NBA players have every right to turn down an offer to play for Team U.S.A, the excuses, for the most part, leave a lot to be desired and are a smack in the face to the thousands of athletes who have trained for years at their chance to play in the Games. And most of those who come to Rio have a lot smaller odds of winning gold than U.S.A. basketball, who basically scrimmage for a couple hours a day until the final round or two.

Here is the list of some of the NBA players that have dropped out and their reasons why:

LeBron James: Tired (of crushing souls)
Stephen Curry: Crushed soul
James Harden: No reason given
Russell Westbrook: No reason given
Anthony Davis: Injuries
Blake Griffin: Injuries
Damian Lillard: Injuries
LaMarcus Aldridge: Has an owie
Chris Paul: Sleepy
Kawhi Leonard: Eh…
Robin Lopez: Invited, but only to take out the Rio Olympics mascots.

Injuries are an unfortunate part of sports and the NBA season is a long and grueling one, so I can’t personally deride anyone who says they are hurt, especially given the amounts of money NBA franchises pay their players to be in top form. Damian Lillard, for example, has plantar fasciitis and that certainly could be a career hindrance if not taken care of properly. So, I’ll take the word of athletes who say they need time off from the Olympics to recover from injuries.

However, the “I’m too tired” excuse is ridiculous. If you are on Twitter and follow any of these athletes, it promises to be a long, boring summer as they tweet their nap times for the next couple months. I at least hope they enlighten us with a dream journal blog until camp begins.

Olympic basketball, especially for the United States, is nowhere near as rigorous as an NBA game. If every one of the NBA stars who said they are too tired to play, played, what would the average margin of victory be for the U.S.? 25? 35? They do realize you don’t exactly have to play a full 40 minutes to beat Tunisia, right?

Think basketball players have it bad? Soccer practically goes 12 months of the year now. Most of the U.S. women’s soccer team will have been traveling back and forth from their international duties and their NWSL team right up until the month of July. Don’t think they won’t be a little tired? Same for the men’s teams all across the globe. And hey, this is Rio. There will be a lot of time to do this when not destroying Australia on the basketball court.

Perhaps, these weary souls should ask Olympic gymnast John Orozco if he’s too tired. Orozco suffered a torn Achilles tendon, lost his mother unexpectedly, and battled for 17 months to make it on the U.S. Olympic team.

This is how we should all feel, just a little bit, if we are lucky enough to be asked to play for Team U.S.A. You’re too tired? Orozco sees your tired and eats it for breakfast.

Then there are those who don’t offer any excuses as to why they turned down Team U.S.A’s offer. They aren’t fatigued or injured or too busy; they apparently just don’t want to go.

They should pay a visit to any one of the U.S. swimmers who finished third at an Olympic qualifier, where a mere fraction of a second determines if you go on or simply go home. Some athletes come so close to reaching their Olympic dream, only to have it be just a fingertip length out of reach until it evanesce into the void of what could have been. Maybe they and the many others who fell just short of Olympic destiny can explain how they would rather sit through an endless loop of the new Ghostbusters theme song than turn down an invite to the Olympic Games.

Through the fog of million dollar contracts, endorsement deals and reality-TV show fame, our NBA stars have lost sight of what the Olympic Games mean. Maybe they have also forgotten about the 1992 Dream Team and what it meant not only for us but for the world; launching basketball into a global phenomenon that has rapidly closed the gap on talent and skill between the United States and the rest of the world. They have forgotten what it means to be a part of something bigger than their brand. Maybe living a life of luxury has diluted the reality that they live in a country where they are paid more than doctors, surgeons and teachers to play a game of basketball. Possibly, they have forgotten that a debt of gratitude might be warranted. And what a small debt to pay.

Chris Paul once said this during the 2012 London Games, “What we do is such a small thing compared to what the people do who protect our freedom. But when I put on that USA jersey it always gave me goose bumps because you realized you were a part of something so much bigger than yourself.” You wonder what changed not only for him but for the rest of athletes who have simply chosen not to go.

Let’s face it: We as a country have had a rough couple of patches during the first six months of the year. We have seen our morale diminish as we decide which nominee we dislike least in the 2016 presidential election, observed a government that is more successful at sitting down than standing up and getting anything done, and we live in world where Roland Emmerich had 20 years to make a decent Independence Day sequel and still failed. I mean, seriously. You had 20 years!

Thank goodness the Olympics are almost here. We need a little unity. We need unending nights of rowing, water polo, fencing and badminton. We need to come together as a society and keep an eye on Bob Costas as we watch our nation’s best go for gold; to hear inspiring stories of how strength of will and determination triumphed over unimaginable odds just to get to Rio. We need all of that, right now. Over the span of three weeks in August, we will get our fill of patriotic fervor. From the opening ceremonies to the closing, I’ll be watching from the comfort of my couch. Much like many of today’s NBA stars.