NBA Lockout Might Send NBA Vets to Asia

The Japan Times‘ Ed Odeven thinks expansion in the young Basketball Japan League should bring more NBA vets to Japan in the near future: “That could opens the door for players to seek employment elsewhere, especially if the lockout becomes a long, drawn-out affair. […] With four new clubs joining the bj-league next season, more roster spots will open up for imports, too, including those who have spent quality time in the NBA Development League, which a growing number of current bj-league stars have played in. ‘If Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Kenny Satterfield and Robert Swift continue to play well, of course there will eventually be more former NBA players coming here,’ a league insider told The Japan Times last week. ‘It’s just that now they will first try the NBADL, Europe, other leagues, and then when their value drops to a certain point, they will join the bj-league. But to get guys recently released or available in the case of a lockout is a long shot. Very, very long shot. Right now the bj-league isn’t even in the same discussion with the JBL and the KBL, much less the CBA in China, which has been aggressively pursuing and signing former NBA players (including Stephon Marbury last season).'”