Lamar Odom's salary would fall from $8.9 million to $2.6 in NBA owners' proposal

[OhNoTimNoSho]

How will he feed his family?????

[ProfessorMurder]

How will he feed his family?????

[Rowe]

Great post. People that think NBA players are overpaid don't know basic economics. Simple as that.

Not to mention the number of jobs that wouldn't be around if leagues like the NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB weren't around.

There are certain players that overpaid and some that are underpaid, but no way in hell are they overpaid as a whole. If anything, I have a feel they are underpaid as a whole. If they are generating the same amount of revenue as the MLB, which I'm assuming they are, they must be underpaid since they get paid so much less with the salary cap system.

Agreed. x10.

I cant help but lol at anybody who agrees Odom should take a paycut of 8.9 million to 2.6 million.

I guess this is what happens when you have children still receiving allowance from their parents trying to justify how much a NBA player should be paid.

Any professional forced to take basically a 65% paycut would announce his resignation to find a new job opportunity. However, considering this is America, the Unions wouldnt allow it and a strike would ensue. In the case of the NBA, both sides dont have any other options.

[Rowe]

I hope they decertify and dare the league to void all contracts. Stern doesn't have the guts to go for the nuclear option.

That would be the best thing to happen to the NBA from a fans viewpoint.

However, the value of franchise's would all drop dramatically including losing sponsors knowing they dont have any players under contract to determine the earning potential of each team.

[guy]

Agreed. x10.

I cant help but lol at anybody who agrees Odom should take a paycut of 8.9 million to 2.6 million.

I guess this is what happens when you have children still receiving allowance from their parents trying to justify how much a NBA player should be paid.

Any professional forced to take basically a 65% paycut would announce his resignation to find a new job opportunity. However, considering this is America, the Unions wouldnt allow it and a strike would ensue. In the case of the NBA, both sides dont have any other options.

Its really stupid. Lets take it a step further. The reality is all of us can live just fine with $40K/year, maybe $80K/year per family. So, why don't we just become a communist country then and distribute the wealth equally amongst everyone.

[RRR3]

[JDKMagic]

They may not be overpaid when considering what the league brings in, but they're still overpaid in general.

Yes, they are paid millions to play a game, and yes, that in itself is ridiculous. We are over paying for entertainment, which leads to the players being overpaid.

They serve absolutely no purpose to better society or future societies in any way whatsoever. Mankind will be no better with LeBron James', Michael Jordan's, Kobe Bryant's, etc... existence. They absolutely do not deserve to make that kind of money. But make no mistake... it's our own fault, as consumers, for paying what we pay.

All they are here to do is help us pass time in a less painful manner before we die. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Overpaid based on their contribution to society? Yes, in a very large way. Based on what the NBA makes? No.

[guy]

They may not be overpaid when considering what the league brings in, but they're still overpaid in general.

Yes, they are paid millions to play a game, and yes, that in itself is ridiculous. We are over paying for entertainment, which leads to the players being overpaid.

They serve absolutely no purpose to better society or future societies in any way whatsoever. Mankind will be no better with LeBron James', Michael Jordan's, Kobe Bryant's, etc... existence. They absolutely do not deserve to make that kind of money. But make no mistake... it's our own fault, as consumers, for paying what we pay.

All they are here to do is help us pass time in a less painful manner before we die. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Overpaid based on their contribution to society? Yes, in a very large way. Based on what the NBA makes? No.

You can say that about many people in the world. Not just NBA players. There are plenty of people working in jobs that aren't contributing much if anything to society.

In fact you can argue that many are making money contributing to the downfall of society. For example, what exactly is a restaurant owner thats so great for society? They serve us food thats ultimately unhealthy. What about some of these expensive retail stores? What are they doing? What about alcohol and tobacco products?

[AirTupac]

When you're amongst the best players in the world and can attract / help bring in millions of viewers to watch you play and buy your things, then maybe we can talk about paying you million of dollars to play a "game".

[Kiddlovesnets]

Well thats good for the Lakers, they have more room to sign role players.

[0000000]

Call me a socialist, whatever (in fact, I'm a Scandinavian type socialist)) but to me the fact that so many people today are starving, are homeless, the fact that scientists who change the world make around $70, 000 while athletes make over $10 mil. a year is just sickening. And people still find ways to justify it using economics. We do see how well that's working right now, don't we.
It's just wrong. It might make sense economics wise but it doesn't make sense common sense wise. Athletes need to be paid less, period. 2,6 mil. is a lot of money.

[Kblaze8855]

Call me a socialist, whatever (in fact, I'm a Scandinavian type socialist)) but to me the fact that so many people today are starving, are homeless, the fact that scientists who change the world make around $70, 000 while athletes make over $10 mil. a year is just sickening. And people still find ways to justify it using economics. We do see how well that's working right now, don't we.
It's just wrong. It might make sense economics wise but it doesn't make sense common sense wise. Athletes need to be paid less, period. 2,6 mil. is a lot of money.

They need to be paid less...regardless of what they generate...so..the owners who for the most part are just rich old men sitting on piles and piles of money get more of it?

Or should the hundreds of millions off jerseys, billions off tv deals, and so on just float off into the air?

Would you like to forward it directly to the orphans?

I would too. But I live in the real world. And in the real world...billions dont just get handed over to people who didnt earn it by the private sector unless its a truly massive company handing it over for publicity reasons. The NBA isnt full of Warren Buffets giving away 30 billion because he doesnt need it.

Its full of billionaires giving a little here and there. And you keep the money from players its just gonna buy them extra 80 million dollar boats, 3 million dollar paintings, and other shit they can do without.

This isnt neverland. There is no fairy dust to perform magic. In the real world...a guy generates 300 million a year like a star athlete can(Tony Romo alone sold 3 million jerseys in a year at a cost of 60-130 dollars each)....

You arent giving him enough to get by. You give him enough of it so the money machine doesnt break down by him not letting you create any more.

You can want the money athletes generate to go to the poor and middle class all you want...fact is...its the poor and middle class giving it to the athletes to begin with. Middle class people buying jerseys, league pass, watching the playoffs, and seeing ads on ESPN.

The people willingly give the sports world the money....cant blame them for keeping it. Blame the people who spend 130 bucks on a jersey when 20 dollars a month can save a childs life. Dont blame the people who happily accept the money being dropped into their laps.

[TheLogo]

Yes, the owners are making money but it's the initial investments that the owners have to recoup.

So a team generates a revenue of say...25 million a year? I don't know what the exact numbers are.....

Initial investment of a NBA team can be 400-500 million and that's just to say you own it. Not factoring the operating cost of running these teams. You have to be competitive to drive ticket sales and revenue and these small market teams can't do that.

If the owners forked out that amount of money then they should be able to make it back. Without them, there would be less teams and less chance for players to make the money that they do.

[0000000]

They need to be paid less...regardless of what they generate...so..the owners who for the most part are just rich old men sitting on piles and piles of money get more of it?

Or should the hundreds of millions off jerseys, billions off tv deals, and so on just float off into the air?

Would you like to forward it directly to the orphans?

I would too. But I live in the real world. And in the real world...billions dont just get handed over to people who didnt earn it by the private sector unless its a truly massive company handing it over for publicity reasons. The NBA isnt full of Warren Buffets giving away 30 billion because he doesnt need it.

Its full of billionaires giving a little here and there. And you keep the money from players its just gonna buy them extra 80 million dollar boats, 3 million dollar paintings, and other shit they can do without.

This isnt neverland. There is no fairy dust to perform magic. In the real world...a guy generates 300 million a year like a star athlete can(Tony Romo alone sold 3 million jerseys in a year at a cost of 60-130 dollars each)....

You arent giving him enough to get by. You give him enough of it so the money machine doesnt break down by him not letting you create any more.

You can want the money athletes generate to go to the poor and middle class all you want...fact is...its the poor and middle class giving it to the athletes to begin with. Middle class people buying jerseys, league pass, watching the playoffs, and seeing ads on ESPN.

The people willingly give the sports world the money....cant blame them for keeping it. Blame the people who spend 130 bucks on a jersey when 20 dollars a month can save a childs life. Dont blame the people who happily accept the money being dropped into their laps.

Yes, I do understand all of that perfectly well. And I still know it's wrong. I have no idea what the better alternative would be, zeitgest maybe, who the hell knows. This however is clearly wrong. Common sense wise.
We all do live in the real world. And it's exactly BS like this that's tearing it apart. But obviously this is only the tip of the iceberg. Wall street schemers are the worst.

All I'm saying is, if we were to build a more responsible, healthier and better society, this type of stuff would need to get changed somehow. And yes, unfortunately that is the fantasy world. We"ll just see for how much longer the real world as you call it will be able to hold up based on it's current principles and values.

[Kblaze8855]

Yes, the owners are making money but it's the initial investments that the owners have to recoup.

So a team generates a revenue of say...25 million a year? I don't know what the exact numbers are.....

Initial investment of a NBA team can be 400-500 million and that's just to say you own it. Not factoring the operating cost of running these teams. You have to be competitive to drive ticket sales and revenue and these small market teams can't do that.

If the owners forked out that amount of money then they should be able to make it back. Without them, there would be less teams and less chance for players to make the money that they do.

They dont generally have to hand over 400 million in cash you know? Its complicated. The buying of a team is tied up in banks, loans, and small owners chilling in and so on. Isnt just a guy pulling up with a pickup truck full of hundreds and leaving it at the front gate.

Besides the values of the teams raise so much over time they dont really need the revenue to get what they paid back and then some if they want it.