Why Do Basketball Players Fail to Make the Transition to Life After Basketball?
The United States has by far the best organized basketball program in the world. From the time children can walk there are recreational leagues that open to kids. In all schools in the States, you will find a gymnasium, even as low as elementary level schools. In fact, many schools may have better gymnasiums and basketball amenities than they have firsthand books. Kids also learn from a very early age that basketball is generally one of the cooler American sports. Unlike some other sports where kids wouldn’t be caught dead wearing the apparel in sports like swimming or gymnastics, basketball shoes and apparel are considered to be the most attractive sportswear that brings you respect and is sought after clothing. Additionally, basketball accessories like having your own basketball, a head band, your own basket are thought to be some of the best possessions a young up and coming player can have. When you look at some of these examples individually, it may not seem like basketball culture at a young age is overwhelming; however, when you add up the fact that young players lives, even in elementary school, can become centered around or heavily influenced by basketball, we start a process in this country where too many players come to be defined by the sport.
Basketball is a beautiful game, and due to the sheer popularity of the game across the nation, there is an incredibly high number of youth players playing the game. With such a high number of players needing proper equipment, shoe and apparel companies like Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Puma and more have become some of the most influential brands in general. When kids stop playing basketball and seek out popular entertainment in society like video games, films and more, some of the most visible titles out there are basketball games like NBA 2K, and one of the most anticipated films of 2021 is going to be Space Jam 2. While America is very much a nation of numerous sports, basketball is the sport in the US that is easiest to access and has the fewest barriers to entry. When you add in the fact that American culture elevates basketball to another level over other sports, many kids become conditioned to want to be basketball players above all else.
The fact that the influence of basketball on young kid’s lives gives them something to work hard for and something to strive to be great at is good, however often we start to define kids by basketball when they are way too young. Many times, if a young kid shows promise at basketball, they are brought up a few age groups, thrown into Varsity and AAU games and start going through college recruitment way before they are mature enough to handle that situation. While a select few prodigy players like a Lebron James or LaMelo Ball could cope with this, many times talented players who are subjected to this rapid progress start to burn out even before their high school career is done. Recently Julian Newman made waves as a tween basketball player for being a true child who was playing varsity as a 7th grader. While he had some potential, it was obvious he was not ready for that level just from a physical standpoint as he consistently got pushed around. Being in that environment taught him some terrible tendencies as a player and he finished his high school career without a D1 college offer and a chance to go to a lower tier league abroad. However, even if he goes abroad for a few years, he will never get the chance to play in college, improve his game enough to play meaningful games in college or at some pro level and more likely that not will be retired in a few years without a college education and very little in the basketball world to fall back on.
For these extreme cases where a talented player lives in a basketball bubble and has little other option in their life to explore other interests, it is not surprising that players like this struggle when their careers end. More likely than not they may only have a high school diploma and for many top players, their high school diploma does not reflect success in the classroom or the development of other skills. Even for kids who take more traditional paths in basketball in the sense that they play middle school, then maybe even a year of JV ball and then varsity ball, the basketball cultural machine still brainwashes many kids to often have a one-track mind where their only focus is basketball.
This mindset can be successful as hard work has taken many players to lofty heights, however on the whole having a one-track mind in your key formative years sets players up for falling behind and getting some of their key life priorities confused. For example, when some players show talent in basketball at normal public schools, many transfers to top basketball schools on the NCAA’s radar where they can raise their recruiting profile and improve their game in the short term, but many of these athletes lose their only opportunity to be a kid. Athletes who attend schools like Oak Hill Academy in Rural Virginia or IMG Academy in Florida can play with top players and face good competition, but they are away from normal society for at least a year. The academics they learn make sure they can get into college, but they are not encouraged at those schools to take a rigorous workload if they want or pick unique classes that interest them because the only concern at schools like that is making sure top athletes can qualify. Lastly, another big failure at these basketball factories is that though they develop players who will be in the NBA in 2-3 years, they do not do a lot of work with athletes teaching them about financial literacy. So, while these schools put these players in good positions on the court to show their talent and get them to the NBA, they do not train players to tackle the main challenge of becoming an NBA player overnight.
While even the top private basketball schools in high school have shortcomings, there is still a lot of late developing talent coming from public schools around the country or talent that either could not qualify for top basketball prep schools due to academics or players who initially went to power basketball schools who were kicked out due to character or academic issues.
Attending schools like this can be the last chance for basketball players for a variety of reasons or for the under looked player, it can be the ideal situation. For players at these schools who came in with a good deal of hype and never made it to a prep school or are returning from a prep school, finishing their high school ball at schools like this is a red flag. It can mean that the player had good talent but did not apply themselves in the classroom in prep school or failed to follow the rules and eventually their coach decided they were not worth the effort anymore. While players like this are still very young and based off talent will probably get a look in Juco or low D-1, if they do not change their ways around at this school and set a good tone for college, they will be entering a new program having not developed any skills away from the court to fall back on.
The flipside of public schools like this that don’t recruit is that many times there isn’t as much talent, but you do get kids who are very committed and are willing to work their butt off to succeed. Their work ethic as well tends to carry over to the classroom as players who have some inkling, they might not get recruited at a high level tend to prepare for other walks of life. This story and type of background worked out for notable players like CJ McCollum, Russell Westbrook, and Dame Lillard. Each of these players was undersized growing up and played at their local high school. They flashed ability but starting out did not yet have the body or athleticism to forecast being the players they eventually became. As a result, these players
developed other skills and kept an eye out for things outside of basketball just in case. Lillard went to a basketball backwater in Ogden, Utah at Weber State, and the work ethic he put into practice in high school coupled with a larger body, helped him get selected high in the draft. CJ McCollum was barely six feet when he started playing in high school, so he worked hard, did well in class and took a scholarship from a reputable academic institution in Lehigh. There he grew to NBA size and brought with him some great routines from college with him and as a result he was able to make a transition to the NBA and I have no doubt he would have made a fine transition to the real world having had the well-rounded experience he had in college.
While the path to the NBA is different for all players, and some come in with some education, discipline and real-world skills, each player experiences an element of being a fish out of water. Even if a player went to a top prep high school, a blue blood college program like Duke or played for one of the best clubs in Europe before joining the NBA, they are still young adults being fully on their own for the first time and on top of that have more money than they can dream about. I alluded to the fact that most colleges that players attend do not teach them financial literacy. Even if a player takes learning that on himself at college, they wouldn’t learn that until they are an upperclassman and in today’s NBA very few upperclassmen are going to the NBA. The one and done rule means most top players only spend one semester in college and the classes that make up their schedule are for all intents and purposes optional. So, when players come into the NBA for the most part, they are a blank slate who can easily be corrupted and don’t fully understand the value of the money they have. Many don’t understand the tax system yet or the fact that the contract they signed is not the actual amount of money they take home. Also, because their life from an early age has been completely dominated by basketball and the basketball culture off the court, once they get to the NBA and no longer have long days of AAU tournaments and numerous games, they have less direction, more distractions and money that they think is almost unlimited at first.
Because of the lack of financial literacy that players come into the league with, or even overall education, in many ways they are set up for some failure. In fact, some players get that first big contract and focus on spending it without realizing that there will be long term ramifications to what they buy (more expensive bills), and these multi-millionaires start to live check to check off an NBA salary. Another big mistake is because they have not received good advice on sound investments or how to create more wealth, players often spend lots of money on assets that immediately depreciate like super cars, boats, expensive clothes, and jewelry. Even players who sign 3-4 large NBA contracts who have spending patterns like this will experience financial difficulty or even bankruptcy. This compounds itself further as those NBA contracts are supposed to be the money that supports you for the rest of your life. If you are smart, then you can invest some of your NBA into things like real estate or other smart investments and then you truly will be set with generational wealth that doesn’t just take care of the athlete but their entire extended family. However, this ideal image of how to save money and create more wealth is rarely realized. As a result, it has become all too commonplace to see former top NBA players who lost their money try and continue their basketball career in mediocre foreign leagues like Puerto Rico, China, Iran, Venezuela, and other leagues off the beaten path. You also see some players get into broadcasting for the school they played college ball at or making frequent paid appearances at various events for cash. While some of those gigs can generate decent money for the average person, these NBA players struggling for cash after the NBA are making fractions of what they used to make and really that money is just to keep creditors off their back and a roof over their head.
While I have certainly highlighted some horror stories of ex-players who struggle once their career is done, there have been more success stories recently of players holding onto their wealth. For players I highlighted who were not all world recruits and had to struggle to the NBA, they had a wide variety of other interests and passions, so they learned to not rely just on basketball to live a successful life. However, for the types of players I also described who came up in schools where basketball was king and then went to a prep school where their main mission at that school was to improve in order to make the NBA, groups like the NBAPA have helped lay out proper steps for athletes with limited life experience off the court to continue to keep their money. This usually includes setting up numerous interviews with contract agents, and with trusted, licensed financial advisors. Once representatives are hired, they will do things like set spending limits per month for the athlete and they will also monitor all investments, etc. that the athlete is involved in. That way though the athlete may not be as familiar with his business interests, he has hired professionals to take care of him so that when he leaves basketball, he is taken care of.
While retiring with money available for NBA players is more of a recent NBA trend, the one thing that players still struggle with some is what their actual second career will be. While I mentioned broadcasting being interesting to some, there are only limited national channels showing games so there are not unlimited jobs. Recently, newly retired players have started creating podcasts together and some of the more popular ones are hosted by large channels like Showtime and ESPN and secure sponsorships. The other more natural fit for ex-players is to get into coaching or front office work which surprisingly can be a challenge for some players. Many NCAA schools require degrees from their coaches so players who had short NCAA careers may not have an NCAA outlet. Outside of broadcasting and coaching though, NBA players must reinvent themselves and it certainly can be a challenge for many who had a one-track mind that was focused on basketball. As a result, many players who were like that tend to look at GM roles. For players who came from unique backgrounds and had atypical formative years, you have seen some very interesting post NBA careers. Kevin Johnson was mayor of Phoenix and Bill Bradley ran for President of the United States. Rick Fox became a movie star. Many stars have done well in real estate, especially Magic Johnson who has a very successful chain of movie theaters.
The story of NBA players in retirement is certainly an interesting one as there are some true horror stories of guys who were some of the most memorable players of their era who now are bankrupt and up to nothing. Then you have the more recent generation, and they seem to have had some challenges but learned from some of the mistakes of those who came before them. While losing large amounts of money is certainly a sad issue that has plagued many players, I also think that for NBA players who devoted decades of their lives to playing a game, a game that also dominated popular culture when they were growing up, stopping your career and finding meaning to replace the thing that defined you must be incredibly difficult and is easier said than done. To me that is why we see so many ex-NBA players engaging in a variety of new activities post career, so that they can try and replace the thrill of the game they enjoyed for decades.
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