Marc Gasol wanted a boat before the Memphis Grizzlies center settled for a Tesla. Shaun Livingston has been buying diapers - lots and lots of diapers - with his new contract from the Golden State Warriors.
NBA teams have doled out about $3 billion in contracts over the first 96 hours of free agency in 2016 and followed that spending spree by dropping at least $3 billion more in 2017. Everyone who gets a pay raise wants something nice, and the new contracts gave players a reason to splurge on themselves.
Gasol got his five-year, $113 million deal in 2015 before the NBA’s new TV contracts kicked in. With nowhere to dock a boat in Memphis except the Mississippi River, Gasol bought an electric car. And he is so proud of his Tesla that he even drove to New Orleans in February for the All-Star Game.
You wouldn’t think of any NBA player as a renter, not with the minimum salary in the hundreds of thousands. But there are a few, including Otto Porter of the Washington Wizards and Kent Bazemore of the Atlanta Hawks. Well, they used to be.
Porter and Bazemore say they were tired of being renters, so they each became homeowners.
Memphis Grizzlies guard Mike Conley, who momentarily landed the NBA’s richest contract with his $153 million deal in July 2016, finally moved into the home he had been building. The 10-year veteran now has his eyes set on something just for himself.
Conley has been fitted for new golf clubs, even though he won’t have a chance to hit the links until next summer.
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