Basketball players aren’t the only Olympic athletes who deserve some dollars

Dwyane Wade says Olympic basketball players should be paid. It’s time to check the water in Miami.

Is there something in it that makes sports figures say dumb things?

“It’s a lot of things you do for the Olympics—a lot of jerseys you sell,” Wade told ESPN.com. “We play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated.”

Wade, who later clarified his comments and said he doesn’t necessarily want to be paid to go to the Olympics, was seconding the opinion of Ray Allen, who lamented the hardships NBA players must endure for their country.

“You talk about the patriotism and that guys should want to play for, but you (need) to find a way to entice the guys,” Allen told FoxSports.com. “It’s not the easiest thing in the world if you play deep into the playoffs and then you get two, three weeks off. And then you start training again to play more basketball where it requires you to be away from home and in another country.”

Who is advising these guys, Ozzie Guillen?

Wade’s words won’t trigger a Castro-sized revolt. But you can just hear 99 percent of sports fans screaming, “What a bunch of spoiled, greedy, unpatriotic, ungrateful bozos!”

Before we send Wade and Allen to Guantanamo, it should be noted that they have a point. The Olympics are a grind. Players generate a lot of money for the cause and deserve a cut.

What Wade and Allen totally miss after years of NBA spoilage is that every Olympian pays a huge price and deserves compensation.

For every Michael Phelps who cashes in big, there are hundreds of runners, rowers, swimmers and wrestlers who have to scrounge by. The International Olympic Committee has gotten rich off TV billions, but athletes like Caitlin Compton sure haven’t.

Compton was a cross-country skier for the U.S. at the Vancouver Olympics. She worked as a “caretaker” at her apartment complex in order to get a break on the rent.

“I was cleaning toilets,” she said.

Nick Symmonds is America’s big middle-distance running hope for London. His daily workouts would make an NBA player puke. To help make ends meet while training, he’s sold advertising space on his body.

Symmonds said he’d tattoo a Twitter name on his shoulder during races. He put the offer on eBay. A marketing company in Milwaukee is paying him $11,000 for the exposure.

Wade makes that much every 2.7 minutes he plays for the Heat.

Most of the Team USA lineup is set. Assuming Tyson Chandler and LaMarcus Aldridge make the roster, the 12 players will combine to make $168.3 million this year.

That doesn’t include endorsements. As USA Basketball chief Jerry Colangelo points out, most of the players get extra from their shoe and apparel companies for being on the Olympic team.

Sure, they sell a lot of jerseys. But Colangelo said that revenue helps fund the entire U.S. Olympic program, not just basketball.

It’s not cheap squiring these guys around the world in the manner they’re accustomed. They sure aren’t sharing dorm rooms with the kayak team at the Olympic Village.

Much of that’s due to understandable security concerns. But only the terminally pampered could feel put out by having to spend three weeks in a 6-star London hotel.

The 2004 team stayed on the Queen Elizabeth II. Among the other guests were George H.W. Bush and Tony Blair. Wouldn’t you have loved to hear the dinner conversation between the prime minister and Allen Iverson?

Perhaps A.I. took the occasion to explain NBA philosophy when it comes to the Olympics.

“(Players) are commodities,” said Allen. “You think about it. You do camps in the summer, you have various opportunities to make money. When you go overseas and play basketball, you lost those opportunities.”

And what do you gain?

At best, a gold medal and the USOC bonus that goes with it. There’s also that stuff about winning one for your country. But just as soccer players aim for the World Cup, the Olympics have never been basketball’s pinnacle.

NBA players gear for the NBA title. After that, some would prefer to lay back, pick up appearance fees at camps and enjoy the spoils of their effort.

Hey, they’ve earned it. I rather enjoyed reading about Wade’s 30th birthday party in January. The car dealership he endorses gave him a $230,000 McLaren MP4-12C sports car. It goes from zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds.

He got a diamond-encrusted watch. One of his cakes was five feet high and decorated with Swarovski crystal monograms. It was washed down with bottles of Dom Perignon.

That’s all well and good. But the complaints ring hollow when his mouth goes for zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds discussing financial inequity.

It should be noted that Wade and Allen weren’t speaking for USA Basketball. Even LeBron James had the P.R. sense to say it does not matter if he’s paid for wearing the red, white and blue.

The backlash won’t be Guillen-like, but Wade already has tried to walk back his comments. Buy it if you want. I think he said what he really believes the first time.

The players are commodities, not commode cleaners. So let the Olympians eat cake. He’s only interested if it’s covered in Swarovski crystal.