Dwyane Wade: NBA Olympians should be compensated - ESPN

 

MIAMI -- Count two-time Olympian and Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade among those who believe NBA players should be paid for playing with Team USA in the London Olympics.

 

Wade, the leading scorer on the 2008 national team that won a gold medal in China, said he agreed with Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen that players should be compensated for their time participating in the Summer Games. Allen first addressed the issue Tuesday night in an interview with FoxSports.com before the Celtics beat the Heat in Miami.

 

Allen, 36, is nearing the end of a playing career that included a stint with the national team that won the gold medal during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. But Wade, 30, remains in a pool of players on Team USA's current roster that will compete at this summer's Olympics.

 

"It's a lot of things you do for the Olympics -- a lot of jerseys you sell," Wade said after the Heat's practice on Wednesday in advance of Thursday's game against Chicago. "We play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated. Just like I think college players should be compensated as well. Unfortunately, it's not there. But I think it should be something, you know, there for it."

 

Wade said he hasn't thought about how much players should be paid for their time. But he said there is a demanding schedule that comes with a commitment to the national team. This summer, NBA players whose teams advance deep into the playoffs could have only a couple of weeks of downtime before the start of Team USA's training camp in late July.

 

The gold-medal game is scheduled for Aug. 12, about a month before many NBA players resume workouts to gear up for training camps that open in late September or early October.

 

"The biggest thing is now you get no rest," Wade said. "So you go to the end of the season, [Team USA] training camp is two weeks later. You're giving up a lot to do it. It's something you want to do. But it's taxing on your body. You're not playing for the dollar. But it would be nice if you would get compensated."

 

Not really sure how I feel about this. What do you guys think?

Then don't play!

Many players are honored to be selected!

You get paid to play for an NBA team. And insanely well. You should consider it an honor to represent your country, and do your best to prove we are the best. The Olympics should embody the truest form of competitiveness....I almost wish we still were in the days when only amateurs could compete.

If all of the other Olympians that work their entire lives just to compete for their country don't get paid, why should they? And the jersey thing doesn't mean a thing. Suck it up and be thankful for your 16 million dollar salary for playing a game.

"I love representing my country, man," James said. "I've done it since 2004 and I'm looking forward to doing it in London. As far as [pay], I don't know, man. It doesn't matter. I'm happy to be a part of the team, to be selected again."

 

Big Props to the "King" for his comments. I love that attitude.

Leave it to millionaire professional basketball players who PLAY A GAME FOR A LIVING to complain about not being paid for competing in the Olympics. I vote that those two get permanently blacklisted from competing in the Olympics.

One can rationalize that they should get paid.

 

However, the part of their brain that controls what comes out of their mouth should be shutting it down.

Well...that was quick.

 

Wade reverses

One can rationalize that they should get paid.

 

However, the part of their brain that controls what comes out of their mouth should be shutting it down.

 

Exactly. I can rationalize a lot of things....currently I'm rationalizing why removing a few subcontractors from the gene-pool would be to the betterment of the entire world, but that doesn't mean it's something I can do, or complain about not being able to do.

I have liked Wade less and less as this year has gone on.

What two?

 

Ray Allen, to be fair Allen started the whole thing but this article singled in on Wade.

Ray Allen, to be fair Allen started the whole thing but this article singled in on Wade.

 

Yeah, I saw that and then reversed my post like Wade.

One can rationalize that they should get paid.

 

However, the part of their brain that controls what comes out of their mouth should be shutting it down.

 

:thumb:

They shoud be able to select different guys each time, plenty of talent that shoudl win in the USA. i will agree with him that a late playoff run in Olympic years give those guys very little time off.

In regards to what Wade had to say about all of the jersey's that they sell, where exactly does that money go?