What could possibly stop LeBron James from going to the New Jersey Nets and joining his buddy Jay-Z other than the other New York team, the Knicks? Some other title contender offering top dollar? Hardly. Then what could it be? Surprisingly, the answer is a European team.

A person close to James said he would consider playing overseas if he was offered a salary of “around $50 million a year.”

James’ current contract expires after the 2010-2011 season, but he can opt out after the 2009-2010 season. Even though many teams are working to clear out salary cap space for that summer, none could offer a contract beginning at even $20 million a year.

The Russian team CSKA Moscow and the Greek team Olympiacos, which recently gave Josh Childress a contract approaching $30 million over three years, have already contacted James, according to the person close to him. The person added, however, that no monetary or contractual discussions have taken place.

While $50 million may seem outrageous, it actually is not, considering the fact that David Beckham signed a 5 year, $250 million contract to play soccer in America, or the $33 million that Jerry Reinsdorf now regrets having given Michael Jordan to return for the 1997-98 NBA season. Additionally, the strength of the euro in comparison to the dollar, and the fact that European clubs are not bound by a salary cap make this deal sensible.

There have been several players who left the NBA for European league teams this summer, but none of James caliber have left - or even considered it. If James were to go overseas, it would be a disaster for the NBA. However,

The source close to James said LeBron would play in Europe only for a year or two before returning to the NBA. He said James would view it as an opportunity to popularize the game and himself overseas. He added that James would not consider himself to be playing in the “minor leagues.”

“Not at all,” the person said. “He believes those guys are pros also.”

The entire scenario falls in line with James’ stated goals of becoming a billionaire and “global icon.”

On July 1, Ron Artest had a decision to make: Whether or not to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent a year early. Doing so would have allowed him to sign with his hometown Knicks or to head down to SoCal to be with his buddy Kobe, and help add a key piece to the Lakers title puzzle. Artest ultimately chose not to opt out and play out the final year of his deal. But later on, he regretted his decision, and wished to be traded. Yesterday, he got his wish.

The Kings have agreed to trade Ron Artest to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Rockets rookie Donte Green, Bobby Jackson (who played for the Kings from 2000-05), and a future first round draft pick. This deal reunites Artest with his former coach in Sacramento, Rick Adelman, and makes the Rockets a serious threat in the loaded Western conference. Along with Artest, the Rockets have their 1-2 punch of Yao and McGrady, and they also have Luis Scola and Shane Battier who are no pushovers. However, given that both McGrady and Yao have never advanced out of the first round, don’t throw the Rockets in the title mix just yet.

At last, a year after it was first revealed that there was a gambling scandal in the NBA, the ring-leader, disgraced referee Tim Donaghy has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce, plus 3 years of supervised release. He was given a 15-month sentence on each count, but the judge ruled that they would be served concurrently.

Donaghy says he let the sport down by taking thousands of dollars from a professional gambler in exchange for inside tips on games, such as how the games were going to be called, and interactions between players and officials — including ones he refereed. He’s dam right he let the sport down. This is a serious blow to the credibility of the NBA’s officiating, and this only feeds the fire of conspiracy theorists who believe the league favor’s certain teams and players to improve ratings and increase revenue.

For Donaghy, it’s over. For the NBA, this is just the beginning. Commissioner David Stern has tried covering this up and sweeping it under the rug saying that Donaghy was a rouge official who acted alone. This issue is not going to go away. Regardless of whether or not Donaghy said the things he said such as officials rigged the Lakers-Kings playoff series in 2002 to take it to a deciding game 7, which was also a revenue and ratings booster, to get less time, David Stern needs to be upfront and address the claims head-on.

This issue will not die until he does that. And if Donaghy is telling the truth, then I demand a Mitchell Report like investigation and congressional hearings and the like! But before any of that, I’d like to see what, if anything, David Stern has to say about the claims Donaghy made.

Kwame Brown still has job in the NBA as an active player? Wow! How did that happen? Is this a dream?

It turns out, it is not a dream. Brown actually is still in the NBA as a player, agreeing to a 2-year contract with the Detroit Pistons. This is a horrible move. It’ll end up being nothing but a waste of money. The Pistons say they believe they can help turnaround Brown, the #1 pick in the 2001 draft, and the first high-schooler choosen #1, around after a rocky start much like they did Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace, also former top-5 draft picks.

There is a big difference here: When they started out, Billups and Wallace never really had any good coaches, and even so, Sheed was pretty decent with Portland, he just had a bad temper and was known more for getting T’s than his play. Additionally, when coming to Motown, Billups played for Rick Carlisle, who is a pretty good coach, but has been given a raw deal in both of his coaching gigs so far, and then later Larry Brown, even though I have never believed he is a very good coach overall, who also helped him. Same with Sheed, coming over mid-way through the 2003-04 season, as his play was pretty good already.

Kwame Brown on the other hand, has played for an elite coach. In fact he has played for the best coach in the NBA right now, Phil Jackson, and he still was not able to figure it out. He played for Jackson for about 3 years, too. If you can’t figure out your game under Phil Jackson, how do you expect to figure out your game anywhere? Look for Brown to continue to fail spectacularly for the next 2 years until he hopefully is out of the NBA forever.

LeBron James. Dwight Howard. Kobe Bryant. Kevin Garnett. Chris Paul. Steve Nash. What do these 6 men have in common? They are your leading contenders for the 2007-08 NBA MVP award. My pick goes to Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. Why?

After all that he’s gone through the last few years, the split with Shaq, the media questioning him about being a ballhog, his wishes to be traded, everything, Kobe has matured into a team player this season. He continues to dazzle us with his moves, but this season, he is passing the ball more. And now, he’s playing with a broken finger too that needs surgery. With Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum when he returns from injury, the Lakers have a real chance at winning the NBA title this season. Kobe is a big part of that.

The last 3 years, Kobe was not worthy of the MVP, as he didn’t pass much, and the Lakers would muddle along the road. But this season, with the Lakers competing for the best record in the wild, wild West, and with Kobe passing more, this is the year Kobe truly deserves the MVP.

Recently, Miami Heat forward Shawn Marion questioned the desire of his Heat teammates:

“We’ve got a national TV game. You’re telling me you can’t get pumped up and come out with fire? That’s frustrating. We’ve got dig deeper,” said Marion.

Marion is absolutely right. How can you not be excited for a national TV game? When these players are making all this money, they should go out there and least play like they care. Not only do the Heat have this problem, but so do the Bulls. It is attitudes like this which are why people get turned away from the NBA, when they start seeing people play with no desire. Big shout-out to Marion for being a man and telling it like it is.

In the middle of a 13-game winning streak, the Houston Rockets have been hit with horrible news

Center Yao Ming is going to miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his foot. With the West as loaded as it is, despite this current win streak of the Rockets, they find themselves in 7th place in the Western Conference. This injury is a major blow to the Rockets playoff hopes.

Additionally, this injury puts Yao’s status for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in jeopardy. It would be a great disaster if he is unable to play, since the games are in his home nation. Furthermore, Team China is expected to contend for gold, and if he is unable to play, it would be a major blow to their hopes. Here’s to hoping Yao recovers soon.

With 2 months left until the NBA playoffs begin, the playoff races are in full go mode. Out West, 9 teams are bunched within 5 games of each other, while in the East, teams 10+ games below .500 are fighting for a playoff spot. It’s time to sit down and re-work the NBA’s playoff system. Everyone plays everyone in the NBA, and this situtation is showing that the West is dominating the East.

Furthermore, with the West being so bunched, a team that wins 50+ games could be sitting at home, while a team in the East could make the playoffs with a record 10+ games below .500 and possibly with over 50 losses, playing for a title that they should have no claim to. The NBA needs to change the playoff system so that the best 16 records in the league get in, regardless of conference. It would make the playoffs more fun too, as the truly best 16 teams contend for the title, and the games are more evenly matched.

The diesel will finally rev his engine in Phoenix tonight. And of all the teams to face, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers, the same Lakers who Shaq used to play for with Kobe Bryant and coached by Phil Jackson.

That’s not the real storyline though. The real story here is how will Shaq fit in with the Suns. We finally get to see how tonight. Does the diesel have enough left in the tank, or is he out of gas? How will he fit in with Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. Is he healthy enough to play and be effective? Will he really allow the Suns to spread the floor better and free up Amare? How is he going to keep pace in the Suns high-octane run-n-gun offense? All these questions and much more will be answered tonight.

To trade or not to trade? The long-asked question has finally been answered: To trade

Jason Kidd is finally going to Dallas (again) a week after the trade seemed to be in severe jeopardy, thanks to Devean George invoking his little-known no-trade clause to veto the deal, and Jerry Stackhouse implying that there was a pre-arranged deal for him to return to Dallas, albeit legal.

The new deal looks like this: Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, Trenton Hassell, Keith Van Horn, first-round draft picks in 2008 and 2010 and $3 million going to New Jersey in return for Kidd, Malik Allen, and Antoine Wright. The Mavericks were able to lure Van Horn out of retirement and Van Horn will be playing for the Nets.

With the deal having been so close to completion last week, this is huge for Dallas that it got done. In the end, even though this will dent Cuban’s wallet 11M more than the original deal, Dallas will be better off this year, as they keep George instead of Hassell, and they don’t lose Stack for 30 days. New Jersey wins too with this deal. They clear cap room, and they get a young point guard to build around with in Devin Harris. With Kidd now, Dallas got one of the more loaded teams in the league, able to fly with some of the other elite team’s combos. This deal gives Dallas the mental toughness they need to contend for a title. With the West so wide open, I’m not going to crown the Mavericks, but look for them to be in the hunt.