Maybe Lebron James isn’t so air apparent

There’s no denying Michael Jordan is one of the best players in NBA history and in my opinion the greatest to ever play.

He led the Bulls to and won the NBA title six times, is a six time NBA Finals MVP, and a five time regular season MVP.

In his final season as a Bull, 1997-98, Jordan was paid roughly $36 million. Now can you imagine if Jordan thought he could make more money elsewhere and chose to play overseas? Me neither.

But it seems like the new trend in the NBA is for players to choose to do just that. It began earlier this summer when Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Childress chose not to resign with the Hawks and instead sign a $21 million contract with the Greek Olympiacos. I don’t really mind because Childress wasn’t exactly an NBA superstar. However, I am upset with Lebron James.

ESPN reported August 6 that a source close to Lebron James said the NBA All-Star will consider signing with a European team once his contract runs out after the 2009-2010 season for $50 million a season.

I’ve been a supporter of LeBron since he was drafted in 2003. He is a solid player and has potential to go down in the history books as one of the greatest. However, is he worth $50 million a season? Absolutely not.

The fact is no single player can do fantastic all by himself. We saw in the 2007 NBA Finals that Lebron alone was no match for Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs, when the Spurs swept the Cavs 4-0. Not even Jordan could do it alone-he had Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and company helping him win 6 championships.

For a guy who tries to emulate MJ, he sure doesn’t act like it. In a 1991 interview, Jordan said “If I wanted to be greedy, I could make a lot more money. I’m not a greedy person. But I like to get paid for what I’m worth. I like to make what I deserve. But I never try to overdo it.”

In 2006, James signed a 5 year extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers worth roughly $80 million. So he is making roughly $16 million a season with Cleveland, plus endorsement deals with Nike, Sprite, Powerade, Bubbilicious and Upper Deck. In December 2007, James was ranked at No. 1 in the Forbes Top 20 Earners under 25 with annual earnings of $27 million.

Whatever happened to playing for the love of the game? I’m not naïve, the NBA is a business and players have to be paid. And don’t get me wrong, Lebron is a tremendous talent and deserves to be paid. But my god, if Jordan was only earning $36 million a season, why on Earth should LeBron get paid $50 million a season?There is a difference between getting paid and being greedy. He’s certainly not hurting financially.

This makes me appreciate Jordan and the good old days of NBA basketball more than I already do. Jordan easily could have gone to Europe and made much more money than he did in the States. $36 million a season might be a lot of money, but for the time and what Jordan did and was capable of doing for the Bulls, he was underpaid.

I hope Lebron ultimately realizes money isn’t everything. It’s players like him that make the NBA exciting to watch. The NBA has already lost fans, but I can only imagine what would happen if Lebron and other NBA talents like Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade went to Europe to play.

If Lebron James and any other NBA all-star were reading this right now, I would ask them to put money aside and think about the league and the fans.

The NBA has already gone down in ratings, but without them it doesn’t have a chance in the U.S. More importantly, stick around for the fans. James has the power to inspire young fans to play basketball and make a fan out of everyone who watches him, just as he became a fan of the NBA watching Jordan. Money can’t buy that.