When you boil it down, athletes are commodities, both to their team and to the community as a whole. Yet you rarely see people discuss athletes in the way you would talk about commodities traded on Wall Street.
Over at Bullets Forever, John Park Williams tackles the concept of John Wall's worth as if it were a stock in an interesting hypothetical. Here's a little bit about the rationale behind his exercise:
Lets say John Wall did some research, and studied the career's of former point guards picked high in the draft. He sees Baron Davis, drafted #3 in 1999, earn $145 Million over his career. He also sees Antonio Daniels, drafted #4 in 1997, earn $49 Million over his career. He then sees Jay Williams, drafted #2 in 2002, make $8.7 Million (or the guaranteed portion of his rookie contract), in his one year in the league.
John Wall decides he would like some insurance. Even though he is confident he will have an even better career than Baron Davis, he wants to insure himself, just in case he turns out to suck (like Antonio Daniels), or has a freak accident (like Jay Williams). So John Wall and his advisers work out a plan where they will sell "shares" of John Wall.
Before you shout out a price you would pay for stock in Wall's career, consider the pros and cons of your investment.
Pros
- He's awesome, which should help him earn plenty of money in his career.
- Has a great personality, which should make him easy to root for and a natural endorser.
- Already signed a 5 year, $25 million deal with Reebok, with more endorsements and a rookie contract to follow.
- The legacy that comes with being the #1 pick, whether positive or negative, does provide a nice boost to the résumé, which only helps secure additional money down the road.
- Did I mention he's awesome?
Cons
- People might get jealous of his awesomeness?
- He's one torn ACL away from seeing his stock plummet faster than Lehman Brothers.
- The Wizards don't exactly have a great history when to comes to injuries...
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