Berlin (AP) – Managing Director Marco Baldi from the German basketball champion Alba Berlin is committed to training compensation for German talents who switch to the North American Basketball League (NBA).
“The NBA generates more than eight billion euros in sales per season. But there is no money for the training of all these players who come from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia? They are delivered free of charge. That’s a situation, um which I would like to take care of,” said Baldi of the “Berliner Morgenpost”.
As an example, the 60-year-old cites Moritz Wagner, who trained with Alba from the age of seven before moving to an American college and then to the NBA with the Orlando Magic. “We don’t get anything for it,” says Baldi, “but suppose Orlando would now move him to his development team in the G-League because they don’t need him right now – which hopefully never happens. He would move from there to Alba Berlin If we want to, we would have to pay a fixed transfer fee.”
According to Baldi, this regulation was coordinated with the world basketball association Fiba and the NBA: “So it’s not about any kind of logic and certainly not about sustainability. It’s about power.” In view of the numerous talents outside the USA, Baldi would therefore like to have this passage changed, also because the other leagues have caught up in terms of quality and attractiveness: “I believe that the NBA must also have an interest in continuing to deliver players of this quality will.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220927-99-913322/2
