College Sports (Basketball)

the juiceman cometh said:

This is what we call a false equivalency.

For one, I agree that TSJ is a bargain for the Timberwolves. That's essentially how the NBA works. Rookie contracts are a bargain, but you get a huge reward if you make it past your rookie deal. That's why Ayo makes 10x what TSJ is making this year.

Second TSJ is the 7th or 8th guy in the T-Wolves rotation. How many CBB making $5 million or even $2 million are 7th or 8th guys in the rotation? Probably not many. Maybe not even any. Ayo, meanwhile, is the 6th man in that rotation when everyone is healthy. He just signed a deal with an AAV of $22.4 million. Is anyone in CBB making anywhere near that? Of course not.

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the juiceman cometh said:

How is it a great comparison?

No college team is paying anyone near what TSJ makes to be the 2nd or 3rd option off the bench. Like for like, NBA is more lucrative, even on the broken rookie scale.

If you're comparing whether TSJ could make more in college vs. NBA, this is also flawed for two reasons:

1. The college players making more than TSJ have one very important attribute that TSJ lacks: college eligibility. This is a major factor that drives up the price of college basketball players. The pool of players available to the NBA is much bigger than the pool of players available to college teams, due to eligibility rules. This drives up competition and prices for the top end college players. If the NCAA just dropped all eligibiity rules (not advocating for this AT ALL btw) you'd see the salary for a guy like TKR plummet. Imagine if Trent Frazier, who is now a proven Euroleague vet, and other guys like him could come back and play in college? Those are the guys that would get more of the money and the NCAA would be flooded with them.

2. TSJ's salary is not a reflection of the free market whereas college salaries are.

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Calvin said:

I think you've taken this in a very different direction from the way I read the comparison or perhaps we're talking past each other. The post you responded to was comparing the option for college with the option for the NBA...which is what the players have to do. The particulars around the different leagues don't change the comparison being primarily about the financial benefit, which is typically the main driver for most people looking at employment offers.

If your point is about the nuance between the two - there's no argument - I'll grant you they're not exactly the same.

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the juiceman cometh said:

Based on the "system is broken" language I took it to mean that it's a problem that college players are making what they are making. Which seems to be the knee-jerk default criticism whenever college player compensation comes up, and the post initially seemed to agree with that.

I probably didn't give enough credit to the last sentence though (think I may have just not seen it tbh) so I may have been way off in my initial read.

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