LKL

Foreign players in each basketball league are a huge chapter that has many ways of being looked at. You can admit that they raise the bar for the native players and draw the attention of the fans, or you can point out the fact that their existence in a league means fewer chances for the native players.  

Both sides have legitimate arguments, both sides should be respected, since the discussion… is a draw. It came to my knowledge that there are some Lithuanian teams which want more foreign players on each team, even unlimited number of foreign players on each team. The strongest argument for that is that this would make Lithuanian teams far more competitive in Euroleague and Eurocup, so it mainly concerns the 3-4 biggest teams of the league. Of course, on the other hand, this could cause a big trouble in Lithuanian league.  

The discussion about foreign players was also huge in Greece as well. During the past few years Greek teams have regularly fought over the number of EU or non-EU players that a team should have on their roster. It all started back in the 80s for Greece, when the teams were allowed to have 1 non Greek player. Needless to say that over 90% of them (until the number of foreign players grew) chose a US player.  

In 1988 Greek teams were allowed for the first time to have one non Greek player on their roster. In 1992 the number of non Greek players grew to 2 per team. The number became even bigger with the Bosman ruling that opened the “gates” for all EU workers to work freely within countries of the EU. At first we had “zones” in Greece, dividing European players in EU and non-EU, and, of course, a third category of non European players. Soon, though, there were only two categories: European players and non European players.  

Nowadays in Greece a team can have maximum 6 non Greek players on its roster. The limitation is that there must be maximum 3 non European players and no more. So, if a team chooses to have 6 non Greek players, it can have the following combinations: 1 non European and 5 European players, 2 non European and 4 European, or even 3 non European and 3 European.  

Olympiacos and Papanthinaikos had 7 non Greek players, but the 7th one could only play in Euroleague games. If they wanted him to play in the Greek championship, they should cut someone else from their squad, with each team having a specfic number of such changes during the season (meaning they cannot change roster in each and every game, but 5-6 times during the regular season and not even once during the playoffs).

During the past few years the rule was 6 non Greek players, and the limitation a maximum of 2 non European players in each team. This is actually the first championship in which 3 non Europeans are allowed to each roster.  

Even though a limitation in European players isn’t fair in terms of legal justice (since all European workers are and should be considered equal within the EU), I agree that there should be a limit in sports. There are a limited number of professional teams in each country, so native players have a limited amount of choices as to where to work (and if you think globally, the number of professional teams in Europe isn’t that big also).  

In my opinion the number of foreign player in each team shouldn’t at any time exceed the magic number of “6”, or half their roster if you want to put it otherwise. There should always be room for native players to play in their country’s teams.  

Italy didn’t consider that a few years ago and their national team fell from zenith to nadir. They almost stopped producing new talents and if you ask anyone in Europe now, they’ll probably not mention Italy among the best 10 national teams of the present. That is cruel, but that was a direct effect of the number of foreign players allowed in each Italian team. Italians didn’t have as many chances as they should and Italy missed on a lot of talents.  

In my opinion Lithuania produces the biggest basketball talents in Europe. Even though the best European player is… German (obvious choice for me since I consider Nowitzki to be the best player in the world), Lithuania has too many star players that excel and are full of talent (it’s obvious if you take a look at your national team). This is happening neither by chance nor because there is something in the… water you are drinking (!) that gives you amazing basketball talent.  

Lithuanians play basketball, learn the basics correctly, but they also have the opportunity to play professional basketball at a high level. If you allow unlimited number of foreign players in each team, then the talents of the next generation will never get a chance. Of course there might be players that are so talented to play nonetheless, but “talent production and development” doesn’t mean 1-2 players. It means a whole generation each time, that starts from an early age and reaches men’s competitions (if the chances of playing professional basketball in Lithuania are limited due to foreign players many talents will give up on basketball and choose to do something else with their lives).  

I surely understand the urge of the best Lithuanian teams to have more foreign players. The best Lithuanian players are way too expensive for your own teams to afford, so teams have every right to feel sold down the river, so to say. They teach basketball to amazing young stars who then they go off and play abroad, like Lithuanian teams are some kind of basketball arsenal.  

Of course, if Zalgiris, for example, had 10 US players this year they might have reached the final four, but where would Zalgiris and Lithuania be in 5 years? How many talents would you have missed? Even if you decide to increase the number of non Lithuanian players in each roster, you should take into consideration the talents in your country and maybe limit the number of foreign players to 4 or 5 in each team.  

Generally, in my opinion, a team (in Greece, Lithuania or any other European country) should be obliged to have at least 7 native players in their roster at each game, with at least 2 of them being under the age of 22 and maybe a “minimum amount of playing time” should exist for the youngsters. That way each year new talents would be given the chance to play professional basketball and no country would lose their basketball identity or miss on talents.  

Of course, there is Euroleague, where each team can even have 12 non EU players on its roster. But, you cannot put a limitation to Euroleague, since that would be unfair to every club that didn’t come from Greece or Spain. Greek and Spanish teams have the money to keep their top native players (and Greece and Spain are among the top national teams in the world, meaning they have star players) with them and can also attract star foreign players.  

So the big question is this: If Greeks and Spaniards can have 6 foreign players on their roster, most other Euroleague teams are “forced” to do the same in order to keep up. But if the maximum limit for foreign players is lower in their country, how can they attract a foreign player and convince him to play just one game a week and have a season that can even end after just 10 games? The answer is… they can’t, it’s unfair. There should be a central management in European basketball that would try to equate the differences in certain rules (such as the maximum limit of foreign players) among different leagues whilst also taking into account the specific needs of each country. Not easy? Sure not. But it’s worth a try.