Should Kobe Bryant And Yao Ming Play In The Olympics?

I know professionals from many sports compete in the Olympics. Nevertheless, there’s something unsettling about Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming, among many other NBA stars, competing in the Olympics.

Barring catastrophe, the U.S. squad will compete for the gold medal at the conclusion of the final week of the competition and the American squad will included some of the world’s highest paid athletes.

Basketball was first an Olympic sport as an outdoor competition in Berlin in 1936, four years after FIBA, its international federation, was organized.

Only amateur players competed in the Olympics and in 1948 basketball transitioned from an outdoor to indoor sport. The United States won every Olympic gold medal until its controversial loss to the Soviet Union in 1972. The U.S. refused to accept the silver medal after winning seven straight gold medals and a compiling a 63-0 win/loss record.

Professionals were permitted to compete in international competition, including the Olympics, in 1989 and since many of the NBA’s best players have competed for their respective countries.

Nonetheless, whether it’s Yao Ming or Kobe Bryant, I still wonder: Do these multi-millionaires really need gold medals?

Professional athletes compete in Olympic cycling, tennis and track and field, among other sports. But watching and listening to Bryant and teammates discuss the Olympics as the ultimate moment of the their sports careers after they’ve just dismantled another country seems disingenuous.

Even if its against other countries’ pros, I like to see the U.S. again attempt the prove the strength of American basketball by selecting current or just-graduating college players to future Olympic teams.