Poll: Whither Kofi?

What will Kofi do?

  • Stay at Illinois

    Votes: 245 58.9%

  • Go pro

    Votes: 160 38.5%

  • Transfer

    Votes: 11 2.6%
  • Total voters
    416
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#26      

Illini B-Ball Fan

Illini B-Ball Fan
Illini B-Ball Fan
What he should do: Stay at Illinois, then see where he stands with his NBA potential in 2023.
What he (probably) will do: Go pro overseas since he's not NBA-ready.
Transferring would not be a good choice.
 
#27      

eas23

E
eas23
Illini B-Ball Fan said:
What he should do: Stay at Illinois, then see where he stands with his NBA potential in 2023.
What he (probably) will do: Go pro overseas since he's not NBA-ready.
Transferring would not be a good choice.
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His NBA potential is not going to change by hitting a few 17 foot jumpers at the age of 23.
 
#28      

Tommy153

T
Tommy153
Kofi wont be drafted so I think he stays at Illinois cause he can make about 1 to 2 million with NIL And a great life in college for another year.
 
#31      

purcy51

P
Nappanee, IN
purcy51
the juiceman cometh said:
Guys that make millions in Europe are proven entities. The highest paid player in Europe makes $4 million. That's the highest. That's like the Lebron/Giannis of Europe. The average salary in the Euroleague salary is around $500k and that's the pinnacle of European basketball. They don't sign players out of college, they sign proven pros. Shane Larkin has over 250 NBA games under his belt. European teams value that experience. Malcolm Hill was working his way up the Euro leagues for like 5 years, and made it to the NBA before he made it to the top tier leagues. Realistically if Kofi goes to Europe I'd expect him to make in the $100-150k range his first season.
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Let's assume he's been extremely fiscally responsible and banked the vast majority of his earnings this year... then living on $100-150k wouldn't be a bad deal.
Another thought: The one thing we're all assuming is that he wants or needs 7 figures. His idea of transformative wealth may be much lower than we think given his upbringing.
Lastly, I voted that he's staying. 🤷‍♂️
 
#32      

the juiceman cometh

T
the juiceman cometh
purcy51 said:
Let's assume he's been extremely fiscally responsible and banked the vast majority of his earnings this year... then living on $100-150k wouldn't be a bad deal.
Another thought: The one thing we're all assuming is that he wants or needs 7 figures. His idea of transformative wealth may be much lower than we think given his upbringing.
Lastly, I voted that he's staying. 🤷‍♂️
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That's all good and well, just was disputing the assumption he'd make anywhere near $1-1.5 million playing overseas next season.
 
#35      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
Abstaining because no Jamaican Bobsled Team option.

cool-runnings.gif
 
#36      

The Ghost

T
The Ghost
Just curious, have all the precincts reported on the Kofi vote? The Jamaican district is notoriously late in delivering their votes.
 
#37      

Mr. Roberts

Mr. Roberts
Mr. Roberts
To me, the fact that he seems to have moved back to Jamaica during spring semester speaks volumes. He is done attending school, made as much money as he could in three years here, and is off to greener pastures.

I voted pro.
 
#39      

The Ghost

T
The Ghost
Just curious, have all the precincts reported on the Kofi vote? The Jamaican district is notoriously late in delivering their votes.
 
#42      

grue2

G
grue2
purcy51 said:
Let's assume he's been extremely fiscally responsible and banked the vast majority of his earnings this year... then living on $100-150k wouldn't be a bad deal.
Another thought: The one thing we're all assuming is that he wants or needs 7 figures. His idea of transformative wealth may be much lower than we think given his upbringing.
Lastly, I voted that he's staying. 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
If "his camp is asking for $2M/yr" (a post in another thread), then the money matters.

It is hard to save much on 100k-150k/year when playing in Europe. If he lives frugally, he may be able to save 30k-50k/year. Compare that to pocketing $2M of NIL over 2 years (vs. the $2M/year as purportedly asked), with living expenses 99% paid. That is ~$1.2M in savings after taxes. Now, no matter what happens going forward, he is financially sound. At worst he needs to take a job that breaks even paying the bills for 10-15 years. A 10% chance of making 10x as much is a terrible bet. Even worse, if the 10% bet wins, then there is a good chance that it will also win after 1-2 years of NIL money. Prudence says to take the sure money and let it grow. Prudence doesn't get the hanger on a retirement. Of course they will want you to take the gamble.

A quick search found that a reasonable house in Kingston is ~100k, a nice house 150k, and a really, really nice house ~250k. One site claimed that if you are collecting SSN, and have 200k in savings, that is enough to retire (renting) in Kingston. I spent all of 5 minutes on this, so there is a chance the sites I found are full of BS.
 
#43      

Rusty

Rusty
Rusty
I'm honestly curious about this. Maybe he loved Trent, Monte, Grandison, Plummer and Belo and the family feel, now he feels a little "meh" (no other word came to mind while typing) could that play a factor? This will be a big turnover that other than BBV and Hawkins in his big man drills, who else does he know? Don't say Dain, he practiced from Jan. to March Maybe the money as others have suggested just isn't the be all end all for him and his family. I hope he comes back but I also understand if he doesn't. Anyone on this board would love to chase the dream.
 
#44      

Godard

Godard
Godard
We wouldn't be having this conversation had the NBA not changed. And teams learned how to stifle him in some big games last season, including the one that ended his season. I'd be happy to see him stay if that's what he wants...but it's perfectly understandable if he wants to move on. That's how I voted.

We have a great coach and a solid recruiting class. Kofi went from a 3-star recruit to an All-American in this system. I'm not worried, and neither should you be.
 
#45      

purcy51

P
Nappanee, IN
purcy51
grue2 said:
If "his camp is asking for $2M/yr" (a post in another thread), then the money matters.

It is hard to save much on 100k-150k/year when playing in Europe. If he lives frugally, he may be able to save 30k-50k/year. Compare that to pocketing $2M of NIL over 2 years (vs. the $2M/year as purportedly asked), with living expenses 99% paid. That is ~$1.2M in savings after taxes. Now, no matter what happens going forward, he is financially sound. At worst he needs to take a job that breaks even paying the bills for 10-15 years. A 10% chance of making 10x as much is a terrible bet. Even worse, if the 10% bet wins, then there is a good chance that it will also win after 1-2 years of NIL money. Prudence says to take the sure money and let it grow. Prudence doesn't get the hanger on a retirement. Of course they will want you to take the gamble.

A quick search found that a reasonable house in Kingston is ~100k, a nice house 150k, and a really, really nice house ~250k. One site claimed that if you are collecting SSN, and have 200k in savings, that is enough to retire (renting) in Kingston. I spent all of 5 minutes on this, so there is a chance the sites I found are full of BS.
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I hear what you're saying, and in large part I concur. I wouldnt make that bet, at least at 23.
I didn't see the post about his camp asking for 2mil/yr. Was it from one of our reliable insiders?
 
#46      

BuddyJ

B
BuddyJ
Godard said:
We wouldn't be having this conversation had the NBA not changed. And teams learned how to stifle him in some big games last season, including the one that ended his season. I'd be happy to see him stay if that's what he wants...but it's perfectly understandable if he wants to move on. That's how I voted.

We have a great coach and a solid recruiting class. Kofi went from a 3-star recruit to an All-American in this system. I'm not worried, and neither should you be.
Click to expand...
3 star?? He was composite 46.
 
#47      

Whitmans Sampler

Whitmans Sampler
Eastern Iowa
Whitmans Sampler
Godard said:
We wouldn't be having this conversation had the NBA not changed. And teams learned how to stifle him in some big games last season, including the one that ended his season. I'd be happy to see him stay if that's what he wants...but it's perfectly understandable if he wants to move on. That's how I voted.

We have a great coach and a solid recruiting class. Kofi went from a 3-star recruit to an All-American in this system. I'm not worried, and neither should you be.
Click to expand...
Agree with your post, but Kofi was a top 50 recruit. Not even close to a 3 star.
 
#48      

Godard

Godard
Godard
Well...I stand corrected. Twice, haha! Someone please cancel out my vote.
 
#49      

Brosky

B
Brosky
IlliniSaluki said:
I replied with him staying. I can only see 2 reasons to announce you are having an announcement.

1) Staying put for another year or
2) Declaring for the draft

I can't see a kid announcing an announcement just to then say they are going into the portal for transferring. I do think he comes back in the end because of the money he can get from NIL vs playing in the G League. (I don't think he gets drafted without an outside shot developed)
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Or the ability to defend the perimeter.
 
#50      

Brosky

B
Brosky
I'm not too worried now that we have Dain. I've seen him do things on highlight films that Kofi could never do, such as handling the ball on the perimeter, hitting pull-up jump shots, etc. BTW, most of the sites I've visited have him at 6-10. If he should get injured, however....
 
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