Chicago, IL – 7/22/2011 –(Reuters.com Release) The Premier Basketball League’s online lockout draft proved to be a great success. The draft began on the afternoon of Tuesday July 19th and ended at 9am Thursday July 21st. Fans from all over the United States and the cities of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Toronto, Ontario, and Seoul, South Korea logged onto the PBL’s website to submit the names of NBA locked out players they hope to see join the PBL. Fans are hopeful that their favorite players will take contract offers from PBL teams should the NBA and its players continue to disagree on a collective bargaining agreement.
“The response we received from basketball fans across the country and other countries was unbelievable and shows just how important the game of basketball is and what it means to fans everywhere,” commented PBL President & CEO Brij M. Desai. “Some players have already left to play overseas and others are considering the possibilities of joining them as well. We wanted to provide an opportunity for these players to stay in the US and play the game of basketball while remaining close to their families and friends,” said Desai.
The draft gave fans, via the internet, the ability to pick players from the NBA roster, and place them onto the various PBL teams. The Premier Basketball League will now contact the agents of these players with contractual offers to play in the upcoming season. In addition, these players will have the opportunity to play on an all-star lockout team that will travel across the country in November or December of this year. The all-star lockout team will play in cities where an NBA team does not exist but has plenty of basketball fans.
The fans voted and the 10 players selected to play for PBL Teams are:
- Kobe Bryant – Selected to the Rochester RazorSharks
- Dwayne Wade – Selected to the Chicago Muscle
- LeBron James – Selected to the Dayton Air Strikers
- Derrick Rose – Selected to the Chicago Muscle
- Kevin Durant – Selected to Team Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
- Dwight Howard – Selected to Dayton Air Strikers
- Dirk Nowitzki – Selected to Team Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
- Carmelo Anthony – Selected to the Rochester RazorSharks
- Blake Griffin – Selected to the Chicago Muscle
- Amar’e Stoudemire – selected to the Rochester RazorSharks
The Premier Basketball League recently finalized a deal with @SportsTV Network. This gives the PBL a distinct advantage over other minor league and independent sports organizations in America. @SportsTV also signed a deal with FilmOn (www.filmon.com), a leader in direct to mobile/portable device HD broadcasting. This gives the PBL unprecedented reach across the global markets on television, internet, and mobile platforms. All games will be broadcast online and on television through the @SportsTV Network (www.atsportstv.com)
The PBL would again like to thank all fans who participated in our lockout draft. For more information about the PBL please visit www.thePBL.com or contact PBL President & CEO Brij M. Desai at Brij@thePBL.com