Just don’t see how it’s financially beneficial to pass up getting to play on ESPN or CBS twice a week and getting all that exposure that a program like Duke, UK or UNC can provide to go along with the market exposure during tournament time. Add onto that, your merchandise sales will be terrible because you haven’t built up a fan base or buzz before being drafted.
Yes, by your 2nd year in the NBA, you will start selling merchandise and shoes to your NBA’s team fan base, but is it worth $125k in salary to lose the exposure and immediate merchandise sales that OAD players get based off a year of being on TV nonstop.
Cole Anthony won't get a signature shoe in year 1 of the D league. Kyrie, Durant, and even LeBron James didn't have signature shoes in year 1. Cole Anthony is the prototypical NBA pg right now. He's got near ideal size/length, elite athleticism, elite (at this stage of development) shooting, and elite team running ability. He's not Cousy or Magic wrt distributing the ball, but that isn't the PG position in the NBA now.
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Point being, some shoe company will invest in him from day 1. Kyrie got a 3 year, 10 million dollar deal from day 1. Adidas, Under Armor, and Puma are making big pushes into hoops gear. Nike wants to protect is quasi fiefdom in hoops. So, the shoe companies won't let a guy with Cole's upside play without a serious shoe deal. In the current class, there are 3 guys who will merit a multi-year, multi million dollar deal: Cole Anthony, Vernon Carey, and James Wiseman. They've got the long term potential, but, even so, we are talking 3ish years for 5-10 million, not huge deals like Durant and LeBron. There are another 10-15 guys that would probably/possibly get a 1 year deal for a few hundred thousand, with a matching clause going forward.
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I don't like the D league for bigs, especially skinny raw ones like Wiseman. Carey would fare better in the D league, but the D league will be hard for bigs, as they face incredibly stiff competition while playing with guards that have no interest in getting them the ball.
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But Cole Anthony is exactly the type of guy that would excel with the Dleague contract. He'd get the 125K, plus another 1-3 million in shoe money.
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I can see how some guys would prefer the exposure or experiences of college. Guys like Carey and Wiseman have expressed interest in college, and have taken the recruiting process seriously. Cole Anthony has not. His entire demeanor, matched by those around him, is that of a guy that has no interest in college. I'm sure he'd rather go straight to the NBA. But that won't happen.
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125K from the team, with another 1-3 from a shoe company, will be a nice alternative to college for Cole.
