More like play for the Sixers, become revered in Adelaide and get a statue of your head bronzed and placed next to Mark Davis's.

Or go be at best an NBA journeyman and be not particularly cared about wherever you go.

Or at best be an NBA journey man and in 3 years earn more at the NBA's minimum salary that you would in about 15 years of playing at the NBL's maximum salary. But I'm sure the statue at The Dome sets you up for life.

I'm sure a former top 20 pick isn't doing too bad for cash

All depends on how they carry themselves after they get the cash... Remember - they probably have to pay 40-50% in tax... Add all the hangers-on and "advisors" - it starts to whittle away... That said a person with a reasonable head on their shoulders should be able to squirrel away a pretty big chunk of cash - and the matter is probably not helped by the fact that no-one spends an appreciable amount of time in college anymore...

Sounds like Bogut might not have been far off the mark...

This has been a problem for a while now. It is an extreme case of keeping up with the Jones' in a lot of cases.

Happened to guys in Atlanta when they where trying to keep up with Dominique and his lifestyle. Problem was Nique was earning 4 times as much as some.

Imagine guys on the bench in Phoenix trying to run with Shaq and his car collection or guys in Cleveland thinking hey LeBron has got 5 staff looking after his house maybe so should i.

Not saying it is smart but you can see how it happens.

I remember reading in article, in "Slam" I think, with the Journalist having travelled with the Memphis Grizzlies on an Eastern Road Trip.

They were travelling on a Chartered Jet and he asked the guys what they did to keep themselves entertained in flight. Lorenzin Wright's answer was along the lines of "I try and count the Diamonds in my Necklace, I bought it for $250,000 in Mexico last Summer and am still not sure how many it has".

I just thought that put the whole overpaid player into perspective for me.

That story and the one on Latrell Sprewell, who while in New York, bought a new Lamborghini Murcielago, didn't like the colour so had it resprayed, TWICE!!! (didn't like the 2nd color either apparently), at a cost of $50,000 each time. Glad to see that idiot's gone broke, although I hope that his ex-wife has got enough to support herself and his kids.

Early this week Latrell Sprewell had to auction off his yacht to cover debts. He paid $1.3 mill for it and got back $850k.... Looks like the bank is also taking his house away as he hasn't paid the mortgage since September 2007.

In this case all I can say is "suck sh*t".... This is the same moron that turned down $21 million over 3 years because "he has mouths to feed".... he's now unemployed after turning down $21 million...

I'm not sure if you've looked into Hodge's career but he only played about 32 games over 2 years and was getting around $1.2mil per year. Take out the tax on that and he's probably got about $500,000 in his bank, yet everyone on here thinks he's loaded!

Let`s not forget also that the recent CBA has made a heck of a difference to players salaries... I can remember leafing through one of the the annual basketball preview`s in the mid 90`s (i forget the name - it was in a thick paperback form and had a profile on every contracted player and draft pick)... And looking at the salaries - at that time the L minimum (annual salary) was $150,000 US... with none of these veteran`s escalation formulae etc (so old codgers/rookies/anyone could get stiffed with the same pittance)... Compare that to the L minimum now (which is of course difficult to pin down due to all the factors involved) - but i`d guess that even a few ten dayers would net you well over that (Isaac - Luke never spilled the beans for you???)...

Of course back in those days i`d say that the team owners were raking in the bucks - hence the lock out that led to the new CBA and the (i hate to say it) more equitable sharing of the (still in my honest opinion ridiculous) spoils...

I believe that the amount of tax piad by NBA players in the US is a lot less than 40 - 50%. I read an article once saying that the canadian franchises would struggle to get the big free agents because the income tax in canada was higher @48% than most american states... I'm not sure if this is still the case... I think most of these players think that the money will keep rolling in once they stop playing... think again

That's why Florida (Miami & Orlando) get a lot of Free Agents, no State Taxes, which really means a player can sign for 10-15% less and still bring home the same sort of money

just checked the max income tax bracket in the US is 35%

Johnny, no, I did wonder, but never asked him. Maybe if he ever asks me what I work for, it'll be a fair trade!

we all know you work for Ferrari's....

But after a certain amount of years out of the game the guys get NBA insurance or something, I remember reading about Manute Bol who was hanging out for it to kick in so he had some money.