personally I don't think NBA players should be playing. In fact, I would support dropping the Olympics all together. Here is why I have no interest in the Olympics:
1) Every sport already has a world championship in which athletes from all over the world come together to determine who is the best. If there is a world champions already for every sport what do the Olympics prove?
2) 1/2 the sports are completely subjective. Sports like Gymnastics, diving, figure skating and (gasp) ballroom dancing are about style, which means politics come into play. You can probably tell one is better than another, but the degree to which athletes are measured seems arbitrary. Note I am not saying these people are not athletes, just that if the decision about who wins is based taste there will always be conflict, and the Olympic are supposed to be about bringing nations together, not introducing hate and conflict.
On a related issue, who thinks that Paul Hamm should give up his gold medal? I don't pretend to understand this issue, but it the South Korean really should have won, I would hope that Mr. Hamm would recognize that integrity is more important than gold.