Having $20 Million Stolen Won’t Determine Whether Tim Duncan Returns To The NBA Next Year
ByJoey Heldon June 26, 2015inArticles›Sports News
Tim Duncan has already had a Hall of Fame career. He’s won five NBA Finals, putting up career averages of 19.5 points and 11 rebounds. He even steps up his game in the playoffs, averaging 21.2 and 11.7. What’s more remarkable, is that he’s done it all while staying with one team: the San Antonio Spurs. That’s almost unheard of in this day and age.
There is one area where Duncan has not been an All-Star, however, and that is money management. Duncan lost more than $20 million to his financial adviser, who was once a close friend. In a lawsuit, he claimed Charles Banks, his former adviser, had him make investments that caused a conflict of interest and a substantial loss for the power forward. But he’s not letting it determine whether he returns for a 19th NBA season.
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Duncan has made about $220 million in salary during his career, including $10 million last year. In recent seasons, he’s taken pay cuts to allow the Spurs a bit more flexibility in signing other players. And there are rumors he may take a sort of unique deal from the team that would save even more cap room.
Duncan originally met Banks in 1998 during his rookie season. Thanks to a recommendation from Banks, a private-equity investor, Duncan put several million dollars into hotels, beauty products, wineries and sports merchandising investments. Banks owned or had financial stakes in each of those investments, according to the lawsuit. For his part, Banks says he hasn’t been Duncan’s financial adviser since 2007, and has only served as a limited partner with the All-Star in a few deals.
While he won’t go around individually warning other players about the dangers of trusting people with money, Duncan does hope his story gets out there, particularly for the younger athletes who think something like this could never happen to them.
“I’m a loyal guy,” he said. “I’m a man of my word, and I assumed other people would be. That’s just not the case in life.”
Especially when you’re a multi-millionaire.
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How Much Money Will No. 1 Draft Pick Victor Wembanyama Make Over The Next Four Years… And Beyond?
ByJoey Heldon June 26, 2023inArticles›Sports News
It wasn’t a very well-kept secret, but we finally got to make it official: The San Antonio Spurs selected Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 overall pick. Well before NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced the pick, pundits were already comparing Wembanyama to previous top Spurs picks, including David Robinson and Tim Duncan .
Wembanyama certainly has some tall shoes to fill, but he’s an exciting player with a chance to be a generational talent. And he’s being coached by the legendary Gregg Popovich , which should only further his skills even more.
As the No. 1 pick, Wembanyama will also make more money than any other rookie through their first four seasons. Just how much money will that be?
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NBA rookies sign contracts on a sliding scale relative to where they were drafted. The top pick receives a certain amount of money, the second pick a slightly lesser amount, and so on, all the way down to No. 30. Second-round players are on non-guaranteed contracts, so they don’t fall into the same sliding scale.
Teams are able to pay anywhere between 80 and 120 percent of that sliding scale, though almost every team offers 120 percent. Assuming the Spurs continue that trend, per Spotrac , Wembanyama will make about $12.1 million during his rookie season, $12.7 million in year two, and $13.3 million in year three. His fourth season will see a larger jump, with $16.8 million coming his way. Both the third and fourth years are team options, though it’s hard to envision a scenario where Wembanyama is not in a Spurs jersey during those seasons.
In total, Wembanyama will make $55.1 million over his first four seasons in the league.
By comparison, the 30th selection, Kobe Brown, will make about $2.4 million this year and just under $12.4 million for the duration of his rookie deal. Quite a big difference!
Wembanyama is also well on his way to financially overtaking his fellow franchise big men. Robinson, who played 14 seasons in the NBA, earned $119 million. Duncan made about $245.3 million over 19 years in the league. If Wembanyama lives up to the hype during his rookie deal, he’ll surpass both players in total earnings with his next contract alone.
It’s always good to be the No. 1 pick, but it’s especially good to be the latest No. 1 pick.
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