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Costliest Pro Athlete Contract Decisions - New Leader in the Clubhouse (1 Viewer)

Whose decision was worse?

  • Latrell Sprewell, 3/$21MM (Turned down offer)

    Votes: 9 37.5%

  • Dwyane Wade, 2/$41.8MM (Player opted-out)

    Votes: 6 25.0%

  • Other Athlete?

    Votes: 9 37.5%
  • Total voters
    24
Johnny Rock

Johnny Rock

Footballguy
We're all familiar with athletes who are bankrupt within 5 years of retirement due to extravagant spending, poor investments and bad financial planning or fraud.

But what about terrible financial decisions made with regard to contracts while they're still playing?

Latrell Sprewell has been the poster boy for years after famously turning down the Timberwolves offer of 3/$21MM in 2004 and remarking, "I have a family to feed ... If Glen Taylor wants to see my family fed, he better cough up some money. Otherwise, you're going to see these kids in one of those Sally Struthers commercials soon."

Even with the time value of money and lack of a "Family to Feed" catch phrase, does Dwyane Wade's opt-out of 2/$41.8MM from the Miami Heat in 2014 make him the new clubhouse leader?

It's a tough call. Sprewell was out of the league and went from $21MM to zero. Wade isn't signed yet but I've seen reports of his worth being $7-8MM per, a loss of $25MM over two years. Although Wade's decision was dumb, and on the surface is shocking, I believe Sprewell objectively keeps the title.

What say you? Wade? Sprewell? Others?

 
Tigers offered Juan Gonzalez 8 yr / $140 million dollar deal in 2000. He turned it down and went on to earn less than 1/3 of that amount over the rest (5 years or so) or his career.

ETA: From 2000-2005 Juan Gone earned 46.1 million, so he cost himself 93.9 million.

 
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Ryan Madson lost more than Sprewell (and definitely Wade) turned down 4/44 from the Phils to be their closer and took a one year deal for $8 million instead to pump up his value. Blew out his elbow, hasn't pitched since, out of baseball now. Sad, but also kinda funny b/c Scott Boras was the one who told him to do it.

 
Hang 10 said:
How much money did Barry Sanders walk away from?
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Less than you think. Football players in the 90s weren't making crazy money. He was only making about $5 million a year.
 
Nomar Garciaparra and Arn Tellem. I forget the amount the Sox offered him back in the early aughts, but I think it was 4 at $60m. Two years later, he was playing for the Dodgers at $1 M plus incentives.

He left at least fifty mil on the table, IIRC.

 
pollardsvision said:
avoiding injuries said:
It doesn't eclipse the ones mentioned, but Nelson Cruz opted out of a $14.1mm contract and ended up signing for $8mm for this season.
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Don't forget the state income tax.

That must always be mentioned when we talk about athletes and TX or FL.
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It's not as big a deal as it appears. Most states--and some cities--impose "jock taxes" on pro athletes from visiting teams. Tony Romo has to pay the State of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia a percentage of 1/16 of his salary every year.

 
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If we are just going by dollars all these seem like poor decisions, but some guys prefer to play in s place they enjoy for less money.

What would be more importsnt for you?

 
It's almost certainly a baseball player. Longoria has to be up there. He has a long contract at much less than he's worth.

 
Mark Davis said:
Not the most dollars, but from a standard of living and the life he could have had, nothing to me compares to Matt Harrington. Last I heard he was working changing tires at a Costco.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Harrington
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Wow, that is brutal. Reminds me of a guy I worked with years ago. He was offered scholarships to a few schools and was drafted by the Marlins or Rays. He kept waiting to make his decision, hurts his knee, all the deals dry up and he ended up working at pizza hut to pay for college. If he would've signed any of the offers he could have gotten surgery and rehab paid for and possibly continued his career. Such a bummer to think about.

As for Harrington, greed is a mother.

 
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