European Fans the Only Winners in the NBA Lockout

European basketball fans have an exciting and unique prospect going into the next basketball season ("Kobe Pushing for Contract in Italy"). Kobe Bryant and others could be coming over. Deron Williams has already started playing in Turkey.

While US basketball fans have been hoping for a quick end to the NBA lockout, basketball fans in Spain, Turkey and Italy must be crossing their fingers for a continued lockout, hoping that NBA players and owners don't find their way to reconciliation in the near future.

European fans stand to gain what American fans stand to lose: a season of basketball featuring NBA stars.

The Lockout Goes On

NBA basketball fans have been holding their breath all summer in anticipation of an end to the lockout that has stopped off-season trades, shortened the pre-season and which may ultimately cancel the entire basketball season. As autumn swings into gear, it looks like the two sides in conflict almost certainly won't reach an agreement in time to avoid losing at least a few games from the season.

If there is a season, there will be almost no chance of anyone beating the Chicago Bulls record of 72 wins. More likely there won't even be 72 games played.

Still a shortened season is better than no season at all for fans of the NBA. However, a cancelled NBA season would make many people happy in Europe. It's already making Chinese fans happy.

Players Going to Europe

Deron Williams is currently the most premier NBA player under contract to play abroad while worked is stopped in the NBA. He has already begun play for Besitkas in the Turkish league, the team that Allen Iverson played for briefly.

The presence of a top-tier talent like Deron Williams is welcome news for Besitkas fans and for fans of Turkish basketball. It doesn't change the face of the league entirely of course, but adding more talent to a sports league is good for fans and helps raise the level of play (at least a little bit).

Rudy Fernandez and Ty Lawson also have European contracts in place too.

Now Kobe Bryant is considering going to Italy to play while the Lakers remain an abstraction of sorts.

That is great news if you live in Italy.

To think that Kobe Bryant may join your league (and even your team) is a pretty bright notion. Of course there are American fans who choose to dislike Kobe Bryant. But would anyone want him to leave the NBA?

It's my guess that the Kobe haters out there actually love to hate him and would miss seeing him in action. (Sometimes in sports it can be almost as much fun to root against a player or a team as it is to root for a player or a team.)

Europe isn't the only continent that stands to gain fans as the NBA loses both fans and players. China has scooped up a big chunk of the Denver Nuggets already and will keep them until its season is done in the spring.

As an NBA fan, I don't want to watch Kobe Bryant and Deron Williams play abroad, but at least someone, somewhere will get to see them on the court.

More from this Contributor:
How Can Kobe Get Into the 'Best Ever' Conversation?

Allen Iverson Deserves One More Chance

Sources:
Kobe Pushing for Contract in Italy

Deron Williams in Turkey