Playing basketball is not a right. These are big boys that know the playing field and what risks and benefits are involved. Nobody is forcing them to do a dang thing. If they don't like it, they have every right to go elsewhere.
No, but no career is a right. My point, which I made in my response to LaQuinta, is that the power imbalance between ownership and players is much worse in the professional basketball industry than in just about every other industry that exists. There is a degree of exploitation of players that is downright disturbing, really.
But the marketing of the NBA and European leagues are so masterful, from the leagues themselves and even more so through sports media (basically in cahoots with ownership) like ESPN and basically all others, that the players are not only in bad position in terms of being exploited by the ownership/labor imbalance, but through the psychological manipulation of children, teenagers, and college-age young men who don't have anywhere approaching the type of information necessary to defend themselves. It's almost a form of brainwashing kids to accept the worst conditions imaginable all while making them believe they are being given a "gift" by the leagues, the ownership, and sports media.
EDIT: The classic example of the psychological manipulation of these young players, especially while they are in high school and AAU programs (including college recruiting) is that so many of them are being convinced that they can leave school early without a degree and be able to pursue a lucrative pro career in the NBA or Europe. The facts derived from data prove that is not the case. It's especially bad for the players who leave early without a degree, but it's also not great for players who get their degree to pursue their pro basketball "dreams."
By the time they are thirty or late 20s and can no longer compete with the next young generation coming up willing to play for little money and no security, they are in terrible positions to transition to careers related to their fields of study from college, whether they have a degree or not. Once they transition, they are competing with their college-educated peers who are in their late 20s and early 30s who pursued their careers right out of college and have built up the type of experience in their youth that puts them in positions to make that much more money in their respective fields.
That's why it's not a great risk for a lot of guys who declare early and even a lot of guys who play too long in the G League or European leagues. They aren't getting good advice about how the world actually works and they are psychologically blinded by the marketing blitz of getting rich playing pro basketball that has become the foundation of their belief systems. If anything, a lot of these gusy go through existential crises as their basketball dreams and careers end. For some, they are able to parlay their experience into coaching or management or some other association within the professional basketball industry. For most, though, that's not the case. And there isn't any media coverage or very many academic studies about this phenomenon so very few, if any, people in positions to guide and mentor these young men are helping them develop realistic and pragmatic life goals.
I've never bought into the NBA and pro basketball propaganda, but most basketball fans and even lay people with no significant intertest in sports believe the narratives that are created and relentlessly promoted by the leagues, owners, and sports media. I hate seeing teenagers and young men exploited like this. That's the bottom line for me and why I say as often as possible: Do NOT declare early unless you are a surefire first round pick in the NBA. There are about 30 positions with guaranteed contracts that open every year for players coming out of college. There aren't any other industries anywhere that provide less financial stability and employment security than the NBA and overseas professional basketball leagues.
