The Issues For Young NBA Stars
HoopsHype offers us an in-depth look at what young NBA stars must go through day in and day out. It is a topic that we don’t get exposed to very often, but it may be the biggest issue as a star in the leauge. Basically, the article goes into detail about how these stars must be able to distance themselves from so-called friends in order to save money.
“Hitting upon impressionable young players, many of whom have come into substantial amounts of money for the first times in their lives, is nothing new. Managing money – and teaching players to say ‘no’ – is an essential part of the NBA’s transition program for rookies, in which the league imports current players, veteran players and anyone else who can speak to them about what lies ahead.”
They talk to Joakim Noah and Kendrick Perkins about what they went through during their first few years. Perkins had this to say:
“‘At the beginning, every one I knew had a hand out and I was spending like $200 and $300 a week. That adds up. It got to $11,000 a month. That adds up too,’’ Perkins said. “You have to learn to distance yourself from people, even if that means staying inside at home more. You know, out of sight, out of mind? That first year in the league was tough for me. You’re worried about offending people if you say no. But you eventually learn that you have to do it.”’
The reason I bring this up is to bring it more to light. HoopsHype is a pretty popular site but nothing like an ESPN or Yahoo. The sad thing is, a story like this would never be shown on ESPN. It puts a negative image on the players and their lives. To me, it offers a reason for some the bad news we hear about athletes getting into financial problems. It is still their fault, but if this issue is as prevalent as the article states, it would be harder for us “normies” to criticize them since we really have no idea what it is like to go through any of this.
