By DAVID BIDERMAN Here's an idea for you, New York basketball fans: Rather than battling for the elusive right to sign LeBron James after this season for about $17 million per year, maybe the Knicks and the Nets would be better off sharing the guy. It's not as nutty as it sounds. Based on last year's NBA schedule—even factoring in all the simultaneous home games—Mr. James could have played 41 games, or exactly half the regular season, for the Nets while still playing another 41 games for the franchise that inhabits the Garden. By doing this, Mr. James—who is currently leading the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA playoffs—could actually cut back on his traveling. By playing a majority of home games for each team, he could cut his total travel miles to just over 30,000, a decrease of about 25%. Thanks to some statistical wizardry from sports economist Dave Berri, who has developed a way to measure how much an individual player's contributions on the court affect his team's wins and losses, it's even possible to get a rough fix on how the two teams would have fared. By Mr. Berri's calculations, the piddling Nets would have more than doubled their win total to 26 games from 12, pulling them out of the cellar. Meanwhile, the Knicks would have won 41 games instead of 29—just enough to sneak into the NBA playoffs. Before you put in courtside-ticket orders at both arenas, know this: NBA spokesman Tim Frank says, not surprisingly, that this will never happen. "You can't be serious, can you?" he asked. Nets fan Keith Slobodien, who has owned season tickets for the team since the late 1970s, says he'd be happy to see Mr. James in a Nets uniform for a single game, let alone half the season. "We can use any improvement we can get," he says. Can't We Share Him? The Knicks and Nets will battle to sign LeBron James during the NBA offseason, but what if they both signed him? The Wall Street Journal designed a schedule that lets him play half a season for each team. Link
