• Stephen Jackson has called out NBA players who chase money over success
• He posed a hypothetical question of people picking $200 million over $50 million and a championship
• Jackson thinks the answer shows whether someone came from nothing or not
Stephen Jackson made a bold statement on his Instagram after the topic of money vs. success came up with respect to NBA players. Jackson proudly declared that he would pick $50 million and a championship over $200 million and no championship.
“I am tired of hearing this shit on Instagram coming from basketball players. That’s why a lot of you are losers. If you don’t come from nothing then you would understand why people say they would rather take $50 million and a championship. Because I care about being the best at the gift God gave me. $50 million is enough for people who came from nothing. We know how to make that work. That $50 million is like $200 million to us. It goes to show the people who struggled and the people who did not struggle. Nah, I’ll take the $50 million and that championship, but you are not a winner, you don’t want to be the best. you just want to maintain and just go on. That’s the difference between a lot of champions and y’all. You made your money but you were not the best at nothing.”
Jackson is a former NBA champion who made $68 million over the course of his career and won one title.
The legacy of a player is secured when they win a ring, so it’s understandable that Jackson thinks that winning would define the sentiment of someone who came from nothing and became an NBA player.
Patrick Beverley Stirs Debate On Money Vs. Success With Jarred Vanderbilt Comments
Jackson is likely responding to the debate on social media that came from Patrick Beverley telling Jarred Vanderbilt to not jump at a $48 million extension from the Lakers and take the chance of being overpaid by someone else in free agency. Given the Lakers are title contenders, fans mocked Beverley for choosing money over the security of a long-term contract on a contender.
“I text him at 8:18 a.m. – ‘Don’t sign an extension trust me. Hoop stay in shape, have fun, I REPEAT, do not sign an extension.’ I told him the reason why is because you sign an extension and you get your worth and as a free agent, you get overpaid. A lot of you young guys don’t know. Overpay, free agent, you get your worth, extension.”
Vanderbilt would be in a better financial position if he could outplay his role and be in line for a massive new contract in the summer. But with Vando having made just $1.8 million last season, jumping up to $12 million annually is a massive upgrade.
In addition, teams with cap room are often not bonafide contenders anymore, with all contending teams in the luxury tax or over the cap. Instead, Vando signed the maximum available to him right now as a second-round pick but could get a massive extension in three years if he develops into a perennial All-Defensive Team player.
Superstars Nowadays Guarantee Their Money Before Going To Winning Situations
A recent trend with NBA superstars has come up where they choose to switch teams by forcing teams to make trades instead of going through free agency. Since the 2019 Clippers signing of Kawhi Leonard and the Nets signing of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant (Durant was a sign-and-trade), most superstar-level players have demanded trades to be moved.
Damian Lillard was extended on a supermax contract with the Blazers just last season and is already waiting to be traded. Bradley Beal got traded one year into his supermax contract, and Kevin Durant requested two trades out of Brooklyn after signing an extension in 2021 and getting his wish in the winter of 2023.
James Harden accepted a player option with a team he didn’t want to play for because he stands to make more money through an extension with a team that wants him than on the open market. The same happened with Kyrie Irving last season, who requested a trade and then opted into an option just to request a trade again so he’s re-signed using Bird rights instead of testing the market.
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