Upon Further Review: Pay comes before play for some
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Let’s say you’re 18 years old, and a really good basketball player. You have made it through school over the last three years driving an old clunker and will be graduating in four months. Your old car is still good enough to get you through graduation and with all the time you spend on the basketball court you don’t have much time to do any thing else.
Remember, you’re 18 and now driving a Hummer H2.
WHAT?
Yes, that’s right — you have a $50,000 sports utility vehicle. Your SUV is outfitted with three televisions and a hookup for computer games.
Some of you are scratching your head right now trying to figure out what I’m talking about.
LeBron James is a high school basketball player who plays for Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Ohio. He is expected to be the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft and is one of the most talked about players since Kevin Garnett.
James is riding around Akron these days in a Hummer H2, a sports utility vehicle which is very popular with many pro athletes.
The new ride for James has many state high school officials wondering if the 18-year-old has jeopardized his amateur standing. Clair Muscaro, the commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association, is one of many to voice his opinion.
“The thing I’m concerned about is that it was a gift from the outside,” Muscaro said. “When our schools see something like that, it throws up a red flag. It’s different than a parent buying their son or daughter a small vehicle.”
James’ mom refused to comment on her son’s new ride. But the auto dealer reported that his mother, Gloria, gave James the vehicle as an 18th birthday present.
Now here is the sticky part. According to bylaws of the athletic association, “an athlete forfeits his amateur status by capitalizing on athletic fame by receiving money or gifts of monetary value.”
If these rules have been broken, James would have to give up his amateur eligibility from the time he received the car. The school would have to forfeit the games he played in from the date he received the car.
The question is, is all of this worth getting something he could have waited and got after he graduated, or even after basketball season?
An 18-year-old kid driving a $50,000 vehicle is just a little too much. Maybe he is going to be the next NBA superstar, but shouldn’t you have to prove yourself first. If they are so sure he is going to be making all that big money in the NBA, why not wait and buy the car after he signs?
And did I mention his mother reportedly went to the bank and took out a loan for the Hummer? What if he doesn’t get that big deal, or have they already received money from someone, and that’s why he bought the car. A lot of things don’t add up and you can see why so many questions are being asked.
The trend over the years by many professional organizations has been to pay before they know you can play. That’s what has ruined many players and put many clubs almost out of business.
Many of these guys never live up to their expectations, and they really don’t have to if they already have the money.
Think about it this way — did you start out at the top of the pay scale when you started working?