The Average NBA Player Spends $42,500 a Month, Including Big Bucks on Clothing

Time Magazine ^ | June 8, 2016 | Brad Tuttle

[ConservativeStatement]

The average NBA player spends $42,500 per month, or $510,000 over the course of the year, and 11% of that money is dropped on clothing and shoes—the biggest overall category for spending. Whole Foods, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Apple, and Mercedes are among the top retailers in terms of NBA player spending, but so are some more middle-of-the-road stores like Target and Walmart.

[ConservativeStatement]

Who bought Clinton the Armani jacket? Feel the Bern. /sarc.

[albie]

How much for their “posses”?

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Make sure you add “while they’re under contract.” Once they get cut, way too many of them end up dead broke and in bankruptcy.

[MustKnowHistory]

In their defense, let me say that they cannot just go buy off the rack clothes. It has to be hard to find clothes that fit.

[GSWarrior]

And?

[MichaelCorleone]

I’ve always wondered why those ‘soak the rich’ nitwits never set their sights on professional sports.

The answer, I think, is because pro sports are a cash cow for the politically correct. Everything from ‘Pink October’ in the NFL (breast cancer) to ‘Gay Day’ at Citi Field (NY Mets) to enriching so-called ‘victim groups’ like the blacks, browns, and women.

Not to mention the shamelessly PC ways of ESPN and the NFL network.

[Freelance Warrior]

In their defense

Do they really need any defense? They spend their own money.

[grania]

they cannot just buy off the rack clothes

I agree. I'd also add that it's nice that when they travel and when they're seen in public they don't look like lowlife gangstas from the 'hood. The problem isn't that they spend so much money, it's that they HAVE so much money.

My biggest objection to many of these superstars is that they exploit their fans. A lot of them are poor inner city youth who should not be spending the small amounts of money they have on seriously overpriced endorsed gear.

[Pearls Before Swine]

I’ve always wondered why those ‘soak the rich’ nitwits never set their sights on professional sports.

You're right that they haven't been targeted explicitly. But, high tax rates are even harder on people with short careers than those earn over a longer period, so the athletes get soaked anyway.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

“Wealth” is nothing more than unspent money.

Some people will never have “wealth” no matter how much of other peoples’ money you steal and give to them.

[jjotto]

Fluff story, and likely highly inaccurate. Avoids mentioning things like child support and ‘entertainment’ expenses.

The idea that guys making at least $500,000 per month only spend a tenth of that is ridiculous on its face.

[DungeonMaster]

NBA rich.

[.45 Long Colt]

I’ve known car dealers who spent more than that each month. I once did an analysis of three years’ worth of American Express statements and determined a dealer and his wife were spending $50K a month just on Amex. Every year when they went to the Masters their Amex bill was over $100K. They ran up big bills the week of the Kentucky Derby, too. They averaged $10K a month on a landscaping service. They certainly spent frivolously, but unlike most NBA players, they were debt free and had any number of hard assets capable of producing a huge income for years into the future.

I know of one CEO whose monthly budget was $80,000 and that was in the late 90’s, the last time I saw his financial information.

[Gil4]

My biggest objection to many of these superstars is that they exploit their fans. A lot of them are poor inner city youth who should not be spending the small amounts of money they have on seriously overpriced endorsed gear.

I'm not sure I see the expectation. An iPhone is expensive and plenty of people buy one (and sign the contract that goes with it) who economically are unwise to do so. Are they being exploited by Apple? There are basketball fans in all income brackets, and I see plenty of 80 yr old ladies with Kevin Durant shirts here in Oklahoma.

If someone is buying stuff they can't afford, it's usually not the seller's fault unless they do something deceptive. Deception is more likely to be a problem with the cell phone than with endorsed basketball jerseys and shoes.

[minnesota_bound]

$42,000 on strippers. $500 for clothes and shoes.

[grania]

Deception is more likely to be a problem with the cell phone than with endorsed gear

The difference is that superstar heroes aren't encouraging the bad choice. I wouldn't mind the endorsements if it didn't bring the multi-millionaire superstar even more money, adding to the cost of the gear.

[Gil4]

You're right that they haven't been targeted explicitly. But, high tax rates are even harder on people with short careers than those earn over a longer period, so the athletes get soaked anyway.

I have seen an attempt to target them explicitly in conjunction with taxes to build a stadium. They attempted to add another tax rate just for income earned within the stadium (or something to that effect.) A court threw it out.

[napscoordinator]

a big bargain compared to what our politicians spend with out tax dollars.

[captaincaveman]

and that’s just in child support.

[i_robot73]

>Do they really need any defense? They spend their own money.

I’d say if they weren’t fleecing the taxpayers for their every stadium, every upgrade, every ....THEN you’d be more on point.

Private club, spending their OWN $$, paying the players out of their own pockets, w/ willing patrons = no complaint