In a chat with Shaquille O’Neal on the ‘BIG’ podcast, Draymond Green gave one of his most controversial takes yet on player fines and taxes in the NBA. According to Green, the collective sum of money that players have to sacrifice over the years makes it hard for them to maintain their wealth after their career is over.
“The fines, to me, don’t make sense,” said Green. “As hard as we work to accumulate wealth, coming from situations most people never make it out of. And then you get fined the way we get fined? it’s actually not set up for us to be wealthy after we’re done playing. This job is not set up, the way we’re taxed, the way we’re fined… if I do something wrong I lose $100,000. It took my mom four years when I was growing up to make $100,000. And I lose that in a night because, what?”
“It’s actually not set up for us to be wealthy after we’re done playing.”
-Draymond Green on the NBA’s fines 👀💰 pic.twitter.com/9vCrSc5htm
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) May 24, 2024
Over his career, Draymond has had to pay over $2 million in fines for his actions on the court, which range from waging war against the referees to hitting various players during games.
This past season, he earned a suspension for his reckless play and had to issue a formal apology for taking things too far. In the end, he has nobody to blame but himself for having to pay all that money in fines, but he still feels like the NBA has come down way too hard.
To Green’s credit, players often lose large chunks of their salary due to fines and other expenses outside of their control. Depending on where they are and the value of the contract, players could end up paying tens of millions to the government alone, which means they may only see a percentage of the money they originally signed for.
Some players, like Glen Davis, have fallen on hard times since retirement and have gone out of their way to try and game the system into getting more money. Glen Davis was arrested for his fraudulent actions, but there are plenty of others (like former Cavaliers guard Delonte West) who experienced a similarly harsh decline after their playing days.
It’s an undeniably costly and unforgiving system for the athletes involved but most players are able to endure just fine and guys with Draymond’s kind of money should still have more than enough money to live comfortably. After agreeing to a four-year, $100 million contract last summer, Green’s lifetime earnings will soon eclipse $200 million and he’ll be one of the richest players in the league. As many fans pointed out, he has no excuse not to be set up for life after he plays his final game for the Warriors.
The real difference for Draymond will be if he can keep his emotions in check. If he can start acting more like other players and avoid invoking the wrath of the refs and the NBA itself, it might save him a lot of money that he can use to help build up his future and sustain his wealth for generations to come.
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