October has arrived, which means that the NBA basketball season is approaching. Training camp has already started and preseason games should be commencing soon, right? 

   Wrong! 

   The 2011 season ended with the first serious lockout since the 1998-99 season looming. As of right now, the rift between the NBA owners and the player’s association lingers, as the lockout reaches its third month. The discussions between the sides have been on and off, at times  becoming very heated. 

   For instance, during a Sept. 30 meeting, when commissioner David Stern happened to gesture his finger toward the players when emphasizing a point, Miami Heat guard Dwayne Wade was reported to have snapped, “Don’t point your finger at me. I’m a grown man. I’m not your child.”

   Things are getting intense, aren’t they? 

   Certainly, no one was surprised when the entire preseason and the October regular season was stricken due to the rift, and more and more players considered going overseas to play their professional ball. 

   Lakers star Kobe Bryant is one of them, as he is mulling a contact to play for a team in Italy. Some others, such as Dwight Howard, Wade, Derrick Rose, Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul are also considering the possibility. 

   Nets guard Deron Williams is one of the players already playing overseas, playing for a team in Turkey. Players such as Tony Parker (France), Leandro Barbosa (Brazil), Nicolas Batum (France), DeJuan Blair (Russia), Trevor Booker (Italy), Ty Lawson (Lithuania), Patrick Mills (Australia) have also signed contracts and are now playing all over the world.

   While there are diehard NBA fans whom are somewhat concerned about the lockout and the future of the NBA, many other basketball fans and those in the sports field in all ranks, particularly casual fans, are not that worried.

   “I’m really not very interested in the lockout, partly because I see the regular season as not particularly relevant and partly because we all know they’ll eventually be playing,” said Assistant Professor of Sports Studies Robert Malekoff, in an email interview. “It seems that almost every player that goes overseas will eventually return to his NBA team. I can’t imagine this will have much, if any, impact on the future of the NBA. Millionaires fighting with billionaires.”

   This may be true in terms of the short term and if the lockout only lasts for part of the season. However, when one looks at the long term and who will be affected by the lockout, one can not help but worry about the future. 

   “I’m not following the NBA extremely closely,” said Sports Information Director, David Walters. “From what I know, the owners and players are far apart in (determining the collective bargain agreement). I also know that some of the players are playing their professional basketball overseas.”

   However, not every NBA player is playing basketball for their income. 

   Walters offers the example of Delonte West, a guard who last played for the Boston Celtics. West, due to spending money unwisely over the years as well as his legal troubles, is reduced to working in a Maryland warehouse for his income. 

   It is striking to hear that a player who has made millions in professional sports is working an everyday job, because he needs the income just like the average person who is struggling to making money due to the recession.