One last area I will explain is the area of the accommodations a player is usually provided with in his contract when playing in the NBA, minor leagues or overseas. Again, this is only from the experience that Joe has had in those leagues and there can be many different situations where different agreements are made.

So some of the main areas of the contract that are typically addressed:

Brindisi, Italy (2nd Division): 2009-2010

1. Housing
In the NBA you are required to find your own housing. The team may be able to point you towards some suggested areas of living, but you are the one who must rent or buy the housing. In the minor leagues, you are typically provided with housing. Joe has gotten anything from a regular hotel room to a hotel suite to an apartment. Although it doesn’t sound that great to live in a hotel, the one year we were in the minor leagues we lived in a suite that was attached to another regular room so that we had two bedrooms (we only had Abby at this point), two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living area. Plus the housecleaning came in once a week. I kind of liked the set-up! That year the team also provided us with meals from a company that specialized in providing healthy meals catered directly to the individual so I felt like I barely had anything to do but take care of Abby.

Overseas you are also provided with housing. The fun part of the contract comes in when you start specifying what type of housing you want. For example, we now ask for a certain number of bedrooms, washer and dryer, and internet and satellite to be paid for (things like gas, electric, water, etc. are almost always paid for and is usually not specified in the contract). Some people ask for things like a yard or a parking space/garage as well. You want to be comfortable where you will be living for 7-9 months, but if you get too picky it can be hard to get all you want. We have found it to be wise to just pick a few things that are really important to you. You realize quickly that you can make just about anywhere work if you need to.

Overseas they also furnish the apartments for you. If you have read my funky beds and funky couches posts, you know that these furnishings can at times be quite interesting. Usually we go with whatever they provide for us, except at times in the area of the mattress. Joe’s job is physically demanding, so to be waking up with a sore back isn’t going to help him perform at the top of his game.

2. Car
In the NBA or minor leagues, you usually drive your own car to wherever it is in the country you are playing. But when you fly overseas, your car doesn’t usually come with you. So the team provides you with a car. The team pays for the insurance and rental/purchase of the car and you as the player pay for gas and any damage you do to the car. Sometimes players need to specify having a car with automatic shift because either they or their girlfriend or wife cannot drive stick. Most cars you are provided with overseas are stick shift (one of the many reasons I am thankful for my dad: he insisted I learn to drive stick by buying me a stick-shift for my first car).

Barcellona, Italy (2nd Division): 2010-2011

3. Airplane Tickets
In overseas contracts they typically provide you with a certain number of airplane tickets. When Joe first went overseas in Greece it was just the two of us, so he was given six tickets. Two were for the two of us to go over and fly back, I used one to get home for a friend’s wedding and then we were able to bless two other friends and family member with a free trip to Athens.  Now that we have six family members we don’t usually get any extra tickets beyond us getting over and back.  Some players specify flying business class as well, especially if the player is much taller and has a hard time fitting in the economy class seats.

4. Health Care
The NBA provides a very nice healthcare plan for their players and families. In the minor leagues, you are usually not provided with any sort of health care. But the one year I was pregnant with Abby and we decided to stay in the U.S. and for Joe to play in the minor leagues so I could give birth in the U.S., so we knew we needed to find a team that would provide health care. So the minor league team was able to put us both on their employee health care plan, which was a huge blessing.

Overseas, you can typically get free health care if you are a registered resident of the town you are playing in. Contrary to what most Americans believe though, free public health care illustrates the fact that you get what you pay for! You can have long waits, appointments where you don’t feel like you are getting the best attention and/or care, and having to go to multiple locations for something that could be taken care of at one place in the U.S. Having been pregnant 4 times overseas, given birth twice, and had 4 young children over here, I have seen more health care than anything else besides basketball games in Europe. Each place is different and it may be worth it to request the team to pay for private health care in the contract.

Hopefully these few posts gave a better idea of how you get started into a basketball career and some of the other particulars that are involved in obtaining a job. Keep reading the blog to find out more about our lives in the basketball world,

Zaragoza, Spain (2nd Division)- 2007

For many professional athletes, the signing of the first contract is a big moment.  So what exactly does a contract cover?  What can a player expect out of a contract?

Usually when people think of a contract, the first thing that comes to mind is the salary.  People are intrigued by how much money a professional basketball player actually makes.  As you are already probably noticing from my past two posts: it depends on what league you are playing in.  In the NBA, the rookie minimum salary is around $450,000 for the season and increases each year that you play (I believe just signing a contract for vet camp can qualify as playing a year )  On the other end of the spectrum is the minor league salary, which can at times be only enough to pay the bills each month.  And in international play it can range from million dollar contracts to a couple of thousand dollars a month.

A salary overseas basically works as a supply and demand type situation.  If you can bring a talent to the game that very few other people have, there will be more jobs offered to you and a higher pay (there are other factors as well that will affect your job opportunity, but this is a big one).  So let’s use Joe as our example.  Joe is a 6 foot point guard.  That in itself is nothing spectacular.  His height does not set him apart as it does many Americans (typically tall, athletic American players are more in demand).  So he must have something else that sets him apart to make teams want him.  For Joe, it is that he is an incredible shooter who can create his own shot (as opposed to a player who can stand and shoot well when another player creates the space for him).  European players are very good at the fundamentals, but aren’t always as creative, so Americans that bring a different flair to the game (by doing things like going 10-for-10 from three point range or hitting game winning shots) are more desirable.  American players that are very sound fundamentally can still get jobs, but they may be more as a role player or in a country where they pay less money because teams can often find national players that do what they do.

Banvit, Turkey (1st Division)- 2008-2009

When looking for a big salary, a player also needs to consider whether all that money that is promised will actually be paid as well.  Overseas it is typical to have payments made late and at times, not at all.  Greece, in particular, is known for not always paying the salary that is agreed upon in the contract. Unfortunately, Europe is much different than the U.S. and what is stated in a contract may not always hold up in court. And going through a court system can be a tedious and costly process. So it is often better to take a lower salary with a club that has a reputation for paying on time and in full, rather than a high salary with a club that has a history of not making full payments. Clubs are also known to apply random fines for things like losing games that were not stated in the original contract. So sometimes it is good to do your homework on a team before signing there (this is where other players come in handy). A salary is also not guaranteed when it comes to injury or a player not performing up to the club’s expectations. Clubs can make changes at any point in the season and usually an agreement will be settled upon, but not for the full amount of the contract.

Also included in the contract are various other elements, which I would classify as “accommodations. In the next post, I will explain a bit more of the accommodations that professional basketball players are provided with.