A little over a month ago I moved to Australia, opting for a winter Down Under in a rising economy over a hot and jobless summer in the United States.
I feel a bit unpatriotic, though, because as I read the news coming out of the United States, I feel as though I'm watching a ship sink from a lifeboat.
The U.S. government is facing the very real possibility of defaulting on national debt payments, leading to spending cuts on everything from Social Security to Pell Grants (the awards issued by the Department of Education that help millions of American college students, including myself, pay for university fees).
The country's most vulnerable could be left uninsured, and the country's future could be left uneducated.
But nothing screams "abandon ship" louder than the news that Deron Williams has signed a contract to play basketball in Turkey.
In the past five years, 75 foreign-born and international players have been selected in the NBA draft. This summer, we saw picks three through seven filled by players hailing from nations as near as Canada and as far as Turkey.
Basketball is a global game—arguably the most universal export to come from American soil. The game is played everywhere, and the NBA, in particular, is watched all over the world. In fact, just the other day a colleague of mine, who has never left Western Australia, told me his favorite basketball team is the Sacramento Kings.
All the while, the NBA has been the the best league, the ultimate goal for the world's best basketball players. If this lockout goes too long however, the NBA could lose its best players to foreign leagues and, if so, its position as the world's best professional basketball organization.
Watching NBA players jump ship to Europe and possibly China is especially disturbing, though, because it reveals an even more disturbing truth. That is, if the economy is not fixed, there will be no reason for the country's most talented—in any field—to stay here.
If the NBA remains in shambles, there will be no incentive for young superstars to stay on and go to American universities if there is money waiting in other countries.
President Barack Obama has said: "I want us to have the best stuff. We have to build, out educate, and out innovate the rest of the world."
And as long as LeBron James stays in Miami, then I suppose we do have the best. But if he jumps the pond to play in Europe or elsewhere, then we should consider panicking.
But what will happen to us when our best nuclear physicists and best cardiologists find work in the same foreign cities as our best basketball players?
We will be out of luck, sitting around on a Monday afternoon, jobless with a bad heart and, worst of all, watching the WNBA.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
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