After listening to Tom tell me how bananas I was for suggesting quality NBA players may not sign for the vet minimum but rather play for a lot more money overseas (and how that idea was stupid, I believe, his words lol) today we see that Pat Bev is considering playing overseas for a lot more money than the vet minimum.
Wow. How surprised am I? Zero, it doesn’t take a genius to understand (or I dunno, maybe it does and I’m a genius?) that these guys aren’t video game trade chips that just do whatever you want or tell them to do in your mind. They have a tremendous amount of pride, they have a small window to earn money playing a game, most of them aren’t all that worried about where the paycheck comes from. They do worry about the size.
So if you want to keep playing with other people’s money, feel free. It’s never really been a game that interests me. These guys will find paydays and some agents might get fired. The NBA free agency is like an ever more dangerous game of musical chairs. Money that was on the table 10 minutes ago is gone now, you sat too slowly.
I don’t believe Pat Bev will be the exception, I think that, at this point in the summer and seeing how most teams have zipped up the cap space, you can either choose the Schroeder Route (play overseas, rehab value, get in earlier the following summer, maybe do well in FIBA if at all possible).
La Melo played overseas rather college or the G-League. There is money to be made and no salary cap to strop you from maximizing what you believe your worth top be. You can play in a vacation destination like Spain or Australia all while playing a decent role for the game you love. Heck, you might be the “star” of the team.
This is the flip side of globalization, that good players aren’t forced to play for pennies. They do have options.
Patrick Beverley Weighing 'Historic' European Contract amid NBA Free Agency Offers
Jamie, while you’re right about players going for what’s best for them money wise, what would one make of Jalen Brunson taking a substantial pay cut for the Knicks? Could it be that the possibility of a major injury played a role in his decision? 113 million is a lot of money to leave on the table.
For 9 out of 10 guys who take this route, Jamie, it’s a one-way ticket out of the NBA. My point is guys who still have game want to play in the NBA, not overseas. They do that when they have no other option. Pat Beverley has played his last game in the association imo.
Maybe. Who knows, we’ll see what Trent does. That’s a better barometer.
He wants to win and he wants to win now, IMO. I never begrudge a player for taking the most coin that they can. It always cracks me up when other people say “so and so will take less…for the team!” When the team is likely actively engaged in trying to trade that guy. That’s why the phrase “it’s a business” always rings the most true. To me, anyhow.
I think folks have alotta misconceptions about pro athletes. I have a few friends & fam who were marginal pros (nobody you’d probably know) and they’ll all tell you that most dudes aren’t trying to be Kobe & Brady. They know they have an extremely limited shelf life and that most careers are over before they hit 30 years of age. Guys in that situation are trying to get paid while they still can and leave with a decent nestegg to start the next stage of life that’ll be substantially longer than their playing careers. We ain’t talking about generational wealth here. Ideally you’d want to spend as much time in the NBA as possible but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way and you do what you gotta do. The shifting CBA rules don’t make it any easier either.
It’s actually alot like any other workplace; you’ve got a small percentage who really give a sh!t and want to move up into management & above. You’ve got another small percentage who are truly no good at their job but do the bare minimum to keep from getting fired. Then you have the vast majority who just wanna do their best, get paid on Friday, and go home. But that kinda ruins the illusion that everybody will spill blood for a ring.
I was talking with my niece’s fiance a coupla weeks ago who tried for about 3 years to make it to the NBA but could never quite catch on. Got an offer to play in Turkey that paid him way more than he woulda made on a minimum NBA contract. Also paid for just about all his living expenses. Spent 5 years there and the only thing he regrets is that he didn’t do it sooner. Everything ain’t for everybody…..
I think with this lousy, top-heavy CBA we’ll see more on-the-fringes guys going for overseas paydays. Guys at the tail end like Pat Bev would find themselves winding down their careers overseas before this abomination of a CBA cut them off at the knees, so it’s not at all surprising to see him take one last stab at it over there.
Fun stuff! Looks like Cam Payne is signing 1 year vet minimum deal. GTJ is signing a 1 year, no deets, yet.