The easiest sport in the world to negotiate the influence of money is basketball. Players are generally healthier, so we don't tend to worry about long term effects, and the rules of the game are pretty well established. Fan interest is high, and we aren't concerned about attracting new audiences. Nope, the only thing that causes debate in basketball, aside from which team or player is better, is cash.
There are currently two enormous stories being slung around the world of basketball, and in their own way, are all about money. The most obvious is from the amateur world, where laws revolving around the compensation of college athletes for use of their likeness are being passed, much to the chagrin of the NCAA.
The NCAA stipulation is a foolish one, in my opinion. Amateurism is a fine and egalitarian goal, but the practice of it is poorly mishandled by the league. What other scholarship student is restricted from making money off of their talents? I agree with the opinion that education and boarding is a salary in it's own right, offered up by the school, and I don't necessarily agree that they should be forced to offer any more than that, however they certainly shouldn't be allowed to restrict a player's earning potential with above board sponsorship opportunities.
Think of it this way: A kid on an academic scholarship will not be prohibited from making money tutoring, so why shouldn't a basketball player use his God given talent to complement the stipend he gets for attending a particular school? The answer is fairly apparent. It isn't competition or fairness between schools. It's all about the money, as it often is.
Right now, endorsement opportunities are available to schools and coaching staffs, but not the players. If a company, say Rhino and Compass, wanted to affiliate ourselves with Purdue because their player, Ryan Henning was very popular, we could only sponsor Purdue and plaster our name over their facilities. We couldn't ask Ryan Henning to endorse our site though, even though paying him would potentially be more effective, and would likely cost our site less money. The endorsement opportunities for players would likely result in less revenue for the schools.
The professional ranks have an entirely different money related story. Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey spoke in support of protesters in Hong Kong, to which the Chinese government took offense. The NBA apologized, Morey deleted his tweet, and players distanced themselves from his comments. There was backlash in the United States, and now the NBA is trying to backtrack the backtracking.
China is a lucrative market that soaks up the NBA and is still growing. While the NBA was lambasted at home for kowtowing to the Chinese and showing how spineless and "anti-freedom" they were, they were really just adhering to the most capitalistic principles: Money over everything.
They were in even bigger trouble, of course, with the home crowd, who is nearly universally against China's humanitarian record, and supportive of Hong Kong, as Morey was, so Commissioner Adam Silver and the league had to do some double talk to make sure they weren't unpatriotic at home, and non confrontational overseas.
In both situations, the organizations look silly in their attempts to chase the dollar. Other leagues try to appeal to fans or simply raise prices to increase revenue. Basketball just finds trouble.
