Money Talks, Players Walk

It seems to me that these days players in the NBA are more and more about themselves and less and less about their team...the LeBron James's of the world have far too much influence on the sport itself. Now whether that be a result of spectacular talent or spectacular sensationalism is a matter of opinion.

More important is that people are often quick to brand players as traitors for leaving their teams in search of greener pastures, when the real issue here lies below the surface. 

In the current day and age of the NBA, being a team player doesn't always work out.

Time and time again, players who have stuck by their team through thick and thin have become trade fodder so that teams can protect their own interests, which more often than not, are to make more money. 

Gerald Wallace, formerly of the Charlotte Bobcats, was traded against his will to the Portland Trail Blazers. If you ask Gerald Wallace, he'll tell you how betrayed he feels and how he had planned on retiring in Charlotte.

Chauncey Billups (recently traded from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks) was heavily against the trade in which he was part of a package deal with Carmelo Anthony. Chauncey wanted nothing to do with the trade, but because he as a player is seen as an asset to be bargained with, he'll be wearing a Knicks jersey for at least the rest of this season.

If you ask me, it's incidents like this that work against the very idea of the players having any sort of team loyalty. How can you be loyal to a team who'd sell you out at the first chance it gets? I certainly wouldn't be loyal to anyone I thought was liable to screw me over.

Moreover, it's not right that players should be so heavily criticized for being "selfish and greedy" when the very teams they play for are almost always, 10 times as selfish and greedy as the players could ever hope to be.

The simple fact of the matter is that the NBA, like all other professional sports, is a business. And the tough thing about businesses is that people don't come first. At the end of the day, it's about making money.

So while Gerald Wallace, among others, may not like the way he was treated, it's the harsh reality of the world he has chosen to live in. All the love in the world doesn't protect you from being the first one to go.

Welcome to the NBA, where if the money talks, the players walk.