Over the course of nearly four seasons playing for the Charlotte Bobcats (now, mercifully, re-named the Hornets), Boris Diaw morphed from an effective stretch four in Mike D’Antoni’s frenetic 7-seconds-or-less Phoenix Suns offense to the captain of the NBA’s Roly-Poly All-Stars. In fact, by the midway point of his ninth season, it appeared Diaw (and his man boobs) was destined to play out his career plodding up and down the court on poor-to-middlin’ NBA teams. Then, halfway through the 2012 lockout season — the season which the Bobcats set an NBA record for lowest winning percentage in NBA history, by virtue of a 66-game schedule — Diaw found his savior in Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs.
Two years later, the Diaw Renaissance is in full effect. He’s found his niche as a pivotal role player on two Finals teams, including a brilliant performance in the 2014 Finals where he sliced and diced the Miami Heat as a member of the Spurs’ second unit. For a guy who experienced one heartbreak after another in Phoenix, and then landed in the dregs of the NBA in Charlotte, just playing for the Spurs would seem to be all the motivation he needed to get back in shape and become the sneaky good passing big man he’d been earlier in his career. Now, it appears he has even more motivation to stay in shape, as his contract explicitly calls for him to keep his relatively svelte figure.
True Hoop’s Amin Elhassan examined the intricacies of some of the NBA’s more peculiar contract stipulations, and found that Diaw has a weight provision that pays out quite handsomely if he adheres to it:
Diaw’s deal features $500,000 in annual performance bonuses in the form of a weight clause. Each season, he gets:
• $150,000 for weighing less than or equal to 254 pounds on Oct. 25
• $150,000 for weighing less than or equal to 254 pounds on the first Tuesday after the All-Star Game
• $200,000 for weighing less than or equal to 254 pounds on April 1
For those keeping track at home, Diaw is currently listed on Basketball-Reference at 215 pounds. We know that is a lie because 1) Basketball-Reference never updates player weights, and 2) we have eyes. As long as sticks to the occasional glass of red, he should be fine — and quite a bit richer.
[ESPN]
