Getty Image / Mike Stobe
The day has finally arrived, the 2017 NBA Draft will take place tonight and we’ll finally get to stop speculating where the next crop of NBA superstars will be playing next season. As of now, the Philadelphia 76ers are on the clock with the first overall pick, followed by Lakers, Celtics, Suns, and Kings. That can all change in the next few hours if any more trades come through, but for now, we’ll just assume that is the order we’ll see players drafted tonight.
There will be A LITERAL SHIT TON of money promised to the top players in the 2017 NBA Draft. Last year, Ben Simmons was picked 1st overall by the Philadelphia 76ers and signed a contract worth $26.6 million with $12.1 million of it guaranteed. The dropoff in earnings between the 1st and 10th pick is startling, but the dropoff between earnings from the 1st to 2nd round might just blow your mind.
Over at Business Insider, they put together this chart that shows the dropoff in earnings by plotting the guaranteed/non-guaranteed contract totals for every player selected in the first two rounds of the 2016 NBA Draft. The major takeaway here is you better have a badass agent who can negotiate ALL guaranteed if you fall to the 2nd Round:
Why even bother having a second round of the NBA Draft if players are going to get paid in pennies? Beyond that, I’d be embarrassed to see what this chart would look like if they added the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds.
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For all of the biggest news from tonight’s NBA Draft be sure to NOT follow me on Twitter at @casspa because I won’t be watching that shit for one minute. I’ll be in my room binge watching my way through old episodes of Game of Thrones in an attempt to re-watch every episode before the Season 7 premiere on July 16th.
Want to see a full Mock Draft of the 2017 NBA Draft? Check out Business Insider‘s coverage by following that link!