Josh Childress’s basketball journey has allowed him to see and experience a lot over his professional career, from being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, to playing in Greece, to returning to the NBA for stints with the Suns, Nets, Wizards and Pelicans to going back overseas to play in Australia.
Josh’s journeys gave him some insights into the question of how some NBA players can go broke after signing lucrative contracts at a young age.
Josh was frank in his assessment of how young athletes often overestimate how much they make with their first contract.
I’ll be honest on camera. 21 years old…6th pick in the draft…I signed a 4-year $11 million deal. The first thing, the first mistake is people say, “Okay I got $11 million.” You got $5 million over 4 years so that million dollar house that you thought you had $10 million more. That house then becomes more expensive.
Most people buy their mother a house or a car. They buy themselves a car. You got a 2-4% agent fee. You got the NBA escrow. So that check gets eaten up.
That’s the 6th pick…now, if you’re at the rookie minimum, thats $350k. So you’re looking at maybe $200k.
Still, the more interesting thing that Josh elaborated on wasn’t the fact that 20-year-olds may not know much about taxes or long-term finances. Childress also stated that veterans play a large part in how rookies and younger players view how they should act despite the fact that their financial situations may be very different.
Some of my veterans spent a little more than others. I’m not going to name names. You know, if those are the guys that are taking you under their wing, that’s what you get used to so that’s how you think it has to be. That’s how you think life is. You get caught up in that and you end up spending way more than you should.
Childress even admitted that he was not immune to such pressures. Josh once felt pressured into buying a Louis Vuitton toiletry bag because Tony Delk gave him a hard time about his cheaper bag.
