Infographic: 7 NBA Stars Who Get Business Done Off the Court

The Sports Techie community blog is sharing the Infographic – Nothin’ But Net … Worth, researched and presented by the Sports Management Degree Hub and representative Zelda Robbins. The 2014 NBA Finals begin today and the complete schedule TV schedule via the NBA is here:

The complete Heat vs. Spurs schedule and national television arrangements on ABC for the NBA Finals.

Miami vs. San Antonio

Game 1 – Thu, June 5, Miami at San Antonio, 9 p.m. ET, ABC
Game 2 – Sun, June 8, Miami at San Antonio, 8 p.m. ET, ABC
Game 3 – Tue, June 10, San Antonio at Miami, 9 p.m. ET, ABC
Game 4 – Thu, June 12, San Antonio at Miami, 9 p.m. ET, ABC
Game 5 * Sun, June 15, Miami at San Antonio, 8 p.m. ET, ABC
Game 6 * Tue, June 17, San Antonio at Miami, 9 p.m. ET, ABC
Game 7 * Fri, June 20, Miami at San Antonio, 9 p.m. ET, ABC

*If necessary

ALL TIMES EASTERN

SUBJECT TO CHANGE

This Infographic’s Turn-a-Buck ratio calculates how many times a player has multiplied his career earnings for these pioneering seven. Each of the Big Seven has truly impressive business accomplishments anyone can study and learn from. Hopefully, history will remember them for more than the bottom line and people will be inspired by each athletes sense of compassion and distribution of their good fortune.

Source: SportsManagementDegreeHub.com

Sports Techie, Our gratitude goes to http://www.sportsmanagementdegreehub.com/nba-net-worth/ for the insightful Big Data analysis of NBA earned income numbers.

Yes, the sad trend in professional sports of players going broke after earning NBA type salaries is disturbing but with the help of sports analytics, I hope to use this blog to help educate the former, existing and soon-to-be players about the dangers of frivolous spending habits and what making a billion dollars really means in the big picture of life with seven billion fellow humans beings, most who live month-to-month.

The average number of years played in the NBA is about 4.8 years. Now compound that with the average salary an NBA player makes at $5.15 million a year. Totaled up that means the average NBA player earns a career salary of $24.7 million. Sorry but these numbers are completely squed. Take the Lakers as an example, Kobe Bryant is contracted for 2 years / $48.50 million. In one season he earned $30.45 million for 2013-2014 while injured. There are questions about his possible return at the talent level that salary commands and rightfully so for a baller who has played more minutes then any other player in NBA history, ever. So when you average in what veteran all-stars like LeBron, Duncan and Kobe have made, divided by the last five players on the bench, you get 4.8 years / $24.7 million, numbers that are inaccurate when representing most NBA players earned income levels and career spans.

The good thing though is the player on the end of the NBA bench may never come close to earning tens of millions but with careful financial planning, what they do earn should be enough to set them up for life with enough money to live comfortably and make a positive difference in the world.

Considering how much I earn as your Sports Techie curator, it is humbling to understand these trends. As a former LA Summer Pro League assistant director of operations and a former basketball agent, I know what the allure of getting to the NBA as a dream come true is like, however, once you get there, the amount of family, friends and business opportunities who want a piece of your income pie is a constant reality to have to deal with causing many players to fail as financial experts of their own hard-earned money.

Big Seven

1. Junior Bridgeman, I used to own his hoops trading card as a kid. When you twist your arms upside down and create glasses with your hands, it is called a Junior Bridgeman. This savvy investor took the business model of being a “franchisee” to a new level. I am happy he is looking to be part of the Milwaukee Bucks ownership group after Senator Kohl’s tenure. Because of the Seattle Supersonics were snaked from my hometown I see the short, medium and soon to be long-term affect it has on a community of loyal fans who watched the Sonics win the 1979 NBA Championship, take a Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls team to a 1996 six-game epic final, and then draft MVP Kevin Durant and fellow superstar Russell Westbrook, only to see them give OKC fans the opportunity to win a championship while being positive role models to Oklahoma youth and adults alike.

2. While attending Whittier College and living in Los Angeles and Orange County, I had the honor of getting to briefly know Magic Johnson, my boyhood idol whom I respect immensely to this day. I went to a Starbucks business summit in Seattle that featured Magic, Howard Shultz and commissioner Stern. I asked the best question of the day to Stern about the impact the Internet was going to have on NBA sport business but my original question was geared towards Magic who invested in the African-American communities as a business pioneer. Listening to Ervin talk with civic pride how he had helped recreate the inner city of Los Angeles with investments in businesses that were either black-centric or those that wanted to commit to helping the community bounce back with infrastructure and all-important jobs gave me goose bumps, then and now. Magic earned $18 million over his career and is now part-owner of the most expensive organization in American sports, the L.A. Dodgers.

3. Is Michael Jordan the GOAT, or greatest of all-time, in the NBA and his career? At one point is was fair to say he was both. Now, he has LeBron gaining on him as a player while Magic and Shaq may both become billionaires before he does. Jordan’s $93 million in earned salary over his Hall of Fame career at the time was significant. Now, each team has a superstar who is on pace to make more than MJ did. I have no idea what his other motorsports and other investments are worth, but owning 80 percent of the Charlotte Bobcats is now worth over one billion and probably more based on the $2 billion valuation of the LA Clippers who were sold to former Microsoft GM, and Ultra Sports Techie, Steve Ballmer, after Donald Sterling paid $12,5 million to be team owner.

4. I have been a fan of Dave Bing and the Pistons since my youth days in Lansing, Michigan. Even though he lost a large sum of capital when his steel company went south, you have to respect the fact that he still lives in down-trodden Detroit and is probably happy enough with his $5 million net worth after earning $2 million over the course of his playing career. He is currently the mayor of this blue-collar city. I believe he is destined to pull Detroit out of bankruptcy and should be a role model for anyone on how to earn money while playing, lose money like most Americans did during the recession, and then bounce back a better person who does not need hundreds of millions to satisfy his ego.

5. King James is on his way back to Cleveland is my guess-timation. He may never win more NBA Champions rings than Jordan’s six but his failure to the people of his hometown Cavs because of “The Decision” shown on ESPN, must be eating at his psyche daily more than the value of six or seven rings ever will satisfy. Coach Tex Winter once asked me to watch his 10 Championships rings while he gave a coaching lecture so I have seen the pride these rings give. Proving to the world that money does not mean more than loyalty, I predict he will soon depart the Miami Heat after Wade’s knee deteriorates and Bosh further settles into his role as a three-point shooter in a 7-foot body, soon enough. King James will show all the inner city and suburban kids in the United States and around the world that although he will be a billionaire soon enough because of his ongoing business relationships with Nike, Samsung and his other savvy Sports Techie type investments, however it all pales in comparison to how he left Ohio. His return to Cleveland will ensure that his legacy is more than about money and that he is a worthy role model who knows how to make and take care of his cash and fans.

6. When I was a youth playing hoops at Redmond high school, on our basement nerf court or on dunk hoops at elementary schools, my favorite player to be was Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon. The Dream shake move was truly unstoppable. The fact that Hakeem played soccer in Africa as a goalie where he learned footspeed skills, then as a teenager, he finally picked up a basketball, is truly legendary. To think he accomplished his NBA numbers and deeds while fasting in January during Ramadan because of his Muslim faith is heroic and forever sets him apart from the other six winners. I am the former Houston Rockets Moderator for their online community where I was sure to include Olajuwon content for his worldwide fandome.  I happily follow his DR34M Facebook fan page. His net worth of $200 million is more than several small countries are worth.

7. Then there is lucky number seven, Dr. Shaquille O’Neal, who played an impressive 19 years in the NBA at the body size and weight he carried. I cannot tell you how many times I have tweeted him, Magic and LeBron and have been ignored. Yet, I influence them all because of my passion for sports tech which as you know is highly contagious. The Business of Fun is here and Shaq-fu is leading the way but is that really the truth or simply another PR campaign. All you have to do is watch NBAonTNT to get a good feel for Shaq and his enormous sense of hard work, humor and sensitivity. My question to Shaq is simply this. Was it fun that earned you a PhD? Was it fun that led helped you improve on your atrocious free throw shooting? Was it fun that gets you into a Buick that most inner city families could never afford and is clearly targeted towards the more affluent? Or, are you really in the Business of Moneymaking masked as fun. Mr. Baseball, Joe DiMaggio, plugged Mr. Coffee, Jordan pitches the Air Jordan brand and Shaq plugs fun, something seems amiss here. The way Shaq jumped on the Sacramento Kings bandwagon in order to leverage his influence against Seattle, the fastest growing city in America, leaves our hearty city again without a NBA franchise for strike two which was calculated fun, right.

Now, if you check my financial records you will find that my credit report number is low, I owe thousand of dollars in student loans and have earned practically zero income over the past 4 years, so you may consider me to be the last person on the planet to discuss sport business and the Infographic: “Nothin’ But Net … Worth”- 7 NBA Stars Who Get Business Done Off the Court, however; you may want to know that I am in this sportsbiz game to help correct it after spending my whole life watching sports make common people, uncommon, while the majority of NBA players waste their valuable earning power on the road to being broke. My time will come soon enough to make the kind of difference President Obama wants small business owners to make for our economy.

I challenge the Big Seven to be proactive and get in touch with me in order to discuss how the Sports Techie community continues to shape the world to be a better place for the right reasons, something that is underway with or without you.

Bet on the Heat and LeBron to win the NBA Finals. I personally feel that Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich is a bad image for the league and young kids because of his brashness, a trait I actually respect when done the right way, Big Seven. Have real fun watching these Finals and enjoy your mobile device second screen experience if you have that option, otherwise, pull out the rabbit ears and tune your TV to ABC for free.

I will see ya when I see ya, THE Sports Techie @THESportsTechie – http://twitter.com/THESportsTechie

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