CJ McCollum estimates 1/3 of players live paycheck to paycheck

[tondi123]

Its really not much different than people who win the lottery. Most of them are broke again within a few years of winning because they have no idea how to manage it in order to make it grow, or at least last.

[tondi123]

I mean, probably the same amount of people on here do too.

How many of you have 3-4 month of expenses in your bank?

This. People don't need loads of bathrooms, central air, giant kitchens, pools, new cars, dope lawnmowers, electric chainsaws, those projector that put ghosts on your house for halloween, grass, really grass is useless, cable, flat screens. A lot of the U.S. is living paycheck to paycheck. The attitude just looks a lot stranger when you watch somebody burn through a six figure paycheck.

Big example: Mitsubishi Mirage. It's a little car designed for Southeast Asia. Mitsubishi has been trying to sell them over here. It's got room for four passengers, a big hatch, fold down seats, safety features, backup cameras, a touchscreen, great fuel economy, a cvt, good reliability, and it's cheap to maintain. Nobody buys them. If your neighbor gets a heavy duty truck, lifts it, and decks it out with chrome and bedliner, a lot of folks feel like, "How the hell am I gonna park a little Vietnamese-market hatchback next to that?" NBA guys are making that decision on bigger scale. When they're parking between a Ferrari and an Aston Martin, they're thinking, "How the hell am I gonna park this dumb work truck between a bunch of supercars?"

Yeah any time you hear how 80% of Americans have to live paycheck to paycheck as some kind of proof of poverty you should call BS. I know plenty of people earning six figures (not NBA money but still) who live paycheck to paycheck because they piss it all away on things that you mention. Its amazing how many people that appear to have the capacity to earn a nice living also have absolutely no idea how to balance their checkbook or save for a rainy day.

[Hindenburg]

A lot of people see the $10 million salary and think a player get to keep the entire $10 mil. It doesn't work that way. After all the taxes and fees, I would say maybe $3-4 mil goes to the player.

[SCTwins]

A nice house. A cabin/beach property. 2 cars (1 for show, 1 for the family). Get Mom a nice condo for 300k. Pay a friend 50k/year to drive you around and pick up your weed.

All of that and you would still have millions to spare/invest. Not to mention some of the sponsorship money these guys have coming in.

These guys don't just live beyond their means, they live beyond what a normal person would need in 3 lifetimes.

You would think at some point, especially after all of the going broke stories we've seen, that somebody in the circle would be like "Do you really need 9 cars? I mean you are on the road over half the year.."

[niQ]

Once they get this sudden influx of cash, they think it'll last forever. It's the same as people who win lotteries. You also see those documentaries of lottery winners going broke.

[AKBlazerFan]

Its really not much different than people who win the lottery. Most of them are broke again within a few years of winning because they have no idea how to manage it in order to make it grow, or at least last.

This is what I came in here to mention. This isn't so much of an NBA problem as it is a "uneducated/low income individual getting a ton of money all of the sudden" problem. I am pretty sure all major sports put on a 4 day class for the rookies and young players that specifically addresses managing money. The problem is, obviously, that none of them give a damn or pay attention.

I consider myself fiscally responsible, and I make a decent living, but it is crazy how your bills go up as your salary does. I have a savings and I don't spend beyond my means, but it is pretty crazy how quickly bills add up as quality of life/salary increases.

All that being said, I do not feel bad for them or have pity. If they can't learn from the sob stories of the hundreds of athletes before them who have gone broke immediately after retirement, then what can you do...?

[prophet_of_rage]

This is why lot's of NBA players go broke after retirement. Once the money stops coming in the reckless spending catches up

Divorce catches up

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[druggas]

I think I'll have me a good cry.

[KrazyP]

I mean, probably the same amount of people on here do too.

How many of you have 3-4 month of expenses in your bank?

This. People don't need loads of bathrooms, central air, giant kitchens, pools, new cars, dope lawnmowers, electric chainsaws, those projector that put ghosts on your house for halloween, grass, really grass is useless, cable, flat screens. A lot of the U.S. is living paycheck to paycheck. The attitude just looks a lot stranger when you watch somebody burn through a six figure paycheck.

Big example: Mitsubishi Mirage. It's a little car designed for Southeast Asia. Mitsubishi has been trying to sell them over here. It's got room for four passengers, a big hatch, fold down seats, safety features, backup cameras, a touchscreen, great fuel economy, a cvt, good reliability, and it's cheap to maintain. Nobody buys them. If your neighbor gets a heavy duty truck, lifts it, and decks it out with chrome and bedliner, a lot of folks feel like, "How the hell am I gonna park a little Vietnamese-market hatchback next to that?" NBA guys are making that decision on bigger scale. When they're parking between a Ferrari and an Aston Martin, they're thinking, "How the hell am I gonna park this dumb work truck between a bunch of supercars?"

This. Modern day capitalism is built on blind consumerism. The minions buy things they dont need and the rich get richer as result. If things slow down, the government steps in and prints money which goes to the rich first and then the scraps trickle down to the minions....minions technically dont get anything because their 'scraps' are offset by inflation when money is printed.

[prophet_of_rage]

The salary distribution in the NBA is right skewed, the average salary doesn't say much for the purpose of this affirmation.

The median salary in 2019/2020 in the NBA is $2.9 Million.

All NBA players pay federal income tax at the highest rate of 37 percent, add state taxes and their effective tax rate may be close to 45% = $1.6 Million per year.

The agent takes an extra 10%, that means that more than 50% of the NBA (who by the way, are much less likely to make a significant amount of out-of-the-court money) = $1.45 Million per year.

That is, more than 1/2 of NBA players live on less than $1.45 Million per year. It's still a **** of money, but it's definitely not that hard to spend, particularly if like many NBA players you come from a poor background and take care of a few people.

I would be curious to find out how much of these role players still need to spend a lot of money taking care of their family and friends. I can see how everyone latches on to the superstars who make 30+ million dollars a year. But is there same level of burden for a generic player who makes median salary in the NBA?

Yes. You forget they can't just live in an ordinary house, sleep in an ordinary bed, buy a moderate amount of food or clothes off the rack. Think about Lebron's million a year expense on his body to last this long and then think about the average guy then spending maybe 100k. Child support is also a killer. The biggest killer. And yes everybody has their hand in a player's pockets.

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[Wonka]

CJ has been beating this drum for a few months now. Are we supposed to feel bad for these man children who aren’t smart enough to HIRE someone else to handle this for them? It’s pathetic.

[FlatearthZorro]

This is why lot's of NBA players go broke after retirement. Once the money stops coming in the reckless spending catches up

A lots of em. I read somewhere that 5 years after they retire, they broke. If you're not smart with your money, it's definitely a possibility.

[abark]

CJ has been beating this drum for a few months now. Are we supposed to feel bad for these man children who aren’t smart enough to HIRE someone else to handle this for them? It’s pathetic.

Hiring someone else to handle their money has been the cause of many players going broke.

Garnett's accountant and firm supposedly stole 77 million from him. Peggy Ann Ford stole millions from players like Rodman, Ricky Williams, Rashad Mccants, and Travis Best to name a few.

Ironic thing is when Mccants woke up one day and was broke out of nowhere, Garnett harshly scolded him when he asked for a loan (still gave it to him though).

[Perishable517]

When I watched the 30 for 30 documentary “Broke”, the combination of bad investment, trusting in the wrong people with their money and their own fancy life style, money can disappear just as quick as they earn it.

Also, taxes play a huuuuuge part as well. Just because the contract said 8 million a year, you’ll probably take home closer to 4 million dollars

This 30 for 30 was absolutely eye opening!

[Perishable517]

CJ has been beating this drum for a few months now. Are we supposed to feel bad for these man children who aren’t smart enough to HIRE someone else to handle this for them? It’s pathetic.

Hire a crook and you end up broke, too. Happened to Kareem.

[abark]

I'm not defending the spending habits of these players at all. This post is about human nature.

Before social security, half of the elderly population lived in poverty. And most of those people worked their full adult lives (while admittedly making far far far less).

Point is, people as a whole seem to very often spend based on what they are currently making, and are very poor at preparing themselves for life after an income.

This is why I have always believed that a safety net system needs to be in place for athletes. The average age of of retirement for solid NBA players is still early 30's, and the average career span is less than 10 years.

Add the fact that most of the income made for these players occurs during their formative years. The human brain does not fully stop developing until age 25, and often times even later.

Again, not defending idiotic spending habits. I'm only acknowledging a disturbing phenomenon that is undeniably true about people in general.

Instead of shaming, I prefer to advocate for changing the system to help protect players from themselves (just like we did with social security).

[HMFFL]

Blake Griffin refutes report of paying $258K/month in child support

Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin has been ordered to pay $258,000 a month in child support, the result of a paternity case in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The celebrity gossip blog, which claims to have obtained court documents, reports that Griffin, who played the first 7½ years with the Los Angeles Clippers, and his ex-fiancee, former USC basketball player Brynn Cameron, broke up a year ago. The couple have two children, Ford, 5, and Finn, 2.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.freep.com/amp/886427002

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[bisme37]

A third of NBA players are on minimum contracts or two-way players. And they have to pay agents and taxes and living expenses. This doesn't seem as shocking or deserving of ridicule to me as it seems to for most in this thread.

[pr0wler]

This is a bit shocking. The average salary is almost $8M. I would say, however, that giving anyone that much money, in any walk of life, that early would result in a similar situation...

Using the mean as the average is wrong much better to use the median value

This. I bet the median salary is like 1-2M or something.

[PlatinumState]

A lot of people see the $10 million salary and think a player get to keep the entire $10 mil. It doesn't work that way. After all the taxes and fees, I would say maybe $3-4 mil goes to the player.

You cant be that ignorant, can you?

The salary distribution in the NBA is right skewed, the average salary doesn't say much for the purpose of this affirmation.

The median salary in 2019/2020 in the NBA is $2.9 Million.

All NBA players pay federal income tax at the highest rate of 37 percent, add state taxes and their effective tax rate may be close to 45% = $1.6 Million per year.

The agent takes an extra 10%, that means that more than 50% of the NBA (who by the way, are much less likely to make a significant amount of out-of-the-court money) = $1.45 Million per year.

That is, more than 1/2 of NBA players live on less than $1.45 Million per year. It's still a **** of money, but it's definitely not that hard to spend, particularly if like many NBA players you come from a poor background and take care of a few people.

NBA agents arent permitted to receive more than 4%, of their client's playing contracts.

90 % of pro athletes are stupid with their money. Always have been, always will be.
A lot of it has to do with being young and showing off for teammates and ho's. I dont feel sorry one bit for someone that makes nba minimum money (510k a season) and is living paycheck to paycheck.
People out here supporting a family, paying a mortgage on 50k and even less