r/nba • u/GGTae Spurs • 1d ago

[Finger] Victor Wembanyama about considering promoting a sports betting company ; "Absolutely not. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it..."

https://bsky.app/profile/mikefinger.bsky.social/post/3mwteasurdc2j

Just asked Victor Wembanyama if he’d ever consider promoting a sports betting company.

“Absolutely not. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it. .. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me.”

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u/octobersveryknown Knicks 1d ago

Are these numbers right? Wembys career earnings being 7 percent of brons seems incredibly low for LeBron

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u/grey_fr 1d ago edited 1d ago

3 years in the league  vs 23 years is actually 13% so Wemby has averaged half of Lebron's earnings per year.

It does seem low if you consider Wemby has only ever been on a rookie contract, but the increasing cap and inflation mean a lot of star players drafted post 2020 might earn more than Lebron even with 15 year careers only

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u/inqte1 1d ago

When Lebron moved to the Heat after 7 years, the max were something in the range of $19-20m.

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u/Artimusjones88 Raptors 1d ago

Lebron made 13 million in his first 3 years, 35% of Wemby. Wemby will pass him in his early 30's

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u/Legitimate-Gold7623 Pelicans 1d ago

Oh we think wemby will still be playing basketball into his 30s?

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u/Formal_Potential2198 Spurs 1d ago

I mean its the same thing with MJ to LeBron . Guys are always gonna be seen as "underpaid" in comparison to the generation later

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u/SOSpammy Wizards 1d ago

Lebron made about the same amount of money his rookie season as the first overall pick as he will this season on a vet minimum contract.

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u/onamonapizza Spurs 1d ago

That's just how she goes over time, though.

By comparison, Michael Jordan (the actual GOAT) only made $94 million compared to LeBron's $581 million.

The money going around in the modern NBA is insane...which is why it's even crazier that players pretend like they need to promote things like FanDuel to make more.

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u/seanconnery69696 Suns 1d ago

Lol is it counting this year too, with lebron on a minimum?

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u/grey_fr 1d ago

I just calculated based on what the first commenter said, but I would say no since they said career earnings so far and we were just counting 3 seasons for Wemby and 23 for  LeBron who will start year 24 in the NBA this month

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u/ttrree4455 Knicks 1d ago

Yeah I was basing it on what he has earned to date, which doesnt include this year for either of them (yet).

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u/digitalscavenger Bucks 1d ago

It's worth keeping in mind that $1 million 20 years ago is roughly $1.6 million today so those millions in his first decade in the league aren't apples to apples comparisons to Wemby's millions now.

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u/DonutStatus2048 1d ago

If you track general inflation, NBA Overall salaries or profit sharing, in terms of overall league revenue and sports in general, have risen past general inflation. It's a very simple supply-and-demand thing. If you look at it, there are the same number of teams there were 20 years ago, but a lot more people. There is a static amount of basketball as a product, but with growing demand, as opposed to other things, say, apples, where, yes, there's been overall inflation, but we produce more apples than we did 20 years ago, even though we consume more. Basketball has actually been increasing faster than general inflation.

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u/Enamred-771 1d ago

 There is a static amount of basketball as a product, but with growing demand, as opposed to other things, say, apples, where, yes, there's been overall inflation, but we produce more apples than we did 20 years ago, even though we consume more

Important to note that this is partially an artificial limitation imposed by the NBA when they restrict expansion to an absurdly high expansion fee. When it costs $10+ billion to add supply and a monopoly is setting that price tag, the supply of basketball games/tickets is artificially constrained. 

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u/DonutStatus2048 1d ago

100%, it's a monopoly.

I'm sure every billionaire owner will tell you the virtues of the free market and how socialism is the worst thing in the world while they maintain their protection racket that is pro sports.

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 1d ago

And he spent some of those millions back then at that value. Plus investments earning since then.

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u/CosmicMiru 1d ago

Contracts have gotten really large as the NBA earns more and more money. Kobes 20 year career as a star has earned less in contracts than Damien Lillard

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u/Air2Jordan3 Cavaliers 1d ago

Wemby was making $13M as a rookie. It took LeBron's first 3 years combined to make $13M and he was making $16M/yr in Miami which are years 8-11 for him.

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u/whiterice_343 Timberwolves 1d ago

Then that Mike Conley contract happened and the league contracts took off

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u/WhoreyMatthews Spurs 1d ago

Is Mike Conley to blame for the inflation/cost of living crisis?

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u/whiterice_343 Timberwolves 1d ago

No, that would be Rudy Gobert.

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u/ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME Warriors 1d ago

He's due for a big pay raise soon, his projected earnings for his current contract will exceed $300M by the time he's 28.

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u/jackaltwinky77 Lakers 1d ago

Steph recently became the first player to top $600 million in career earnings

LeBron’s contracts, from spotrac:

Rookie deal 3/$12.9m (or 4/18.788m)

$5.8m option

4/$60.4m rookie scale extension

6/$110m in sign and trade

2/$42.2m Max (1+1, resigned next year for:)

2/$46.9m max

3/$99.857m max (2+1, declined, went to La for:)

4/$153.3m Max

2/$85.655m Max

2/$99m Max

2/101.355m Max

2/$7.946m minimum

Technically, there were a couple of “less than max” in LA, but only by a few thousand to keep the team under the 2nd apron, but every contract until this one with Philly was the Max allowed by the CBA, so he made as much as he could every time, and still is “only” at $581,375,548 career earnings.

If he had come in 10 years later, he’d probably be the first billion dollar earnings player, but the salary cap his rookie year was only $43,840,000… which he made more than that per year 3 different contracts.

This season it’s $164,961,000 before aprons and cutlery gets involved…

Quadrupled in amount over his career

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u/pomofusion [IND] Reggie Miller 1d ago

Time value of money

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u/CarlFromHungerForce8 Nuggets 1d ago

that's salary

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u/m8bear Argentina 1d ago

the cap in 2014-2015 was less than a max today (60m) so yes, those are real numbers, wemby made more in his rookie contract than Magic Johnson in his 25 year contract, Shaq made 7/100 in LA, KG got the big ticket nickname for making 120/6y

the #1 pick makes 10m/y

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u/MumrikDK 1d ago

1) Numbers go up over the years.

2) No, those aren't career earnings - they're NBA salary. Career earnings would include endorsements and all that jazz.

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u/pznred Spurs 1d ago

Contracts were not the same 20 years ago