1 Day After Patrick Mahomes and Stephen Curry Fought Over Millions, Chaotic News Cycle Leaves NBA and NFL Fan Bases Divided

After a certain point of time, an athlete doesn’t care about the money. Time and again, we see this play out. Whether you want to call them veterans or quality additions, every year we see talented athletes take a significant pay cut to bolster their chances of winning. However, the exact opposite is also true. For the average human, a lumpsum in the 8-9 digits is a huge amount. Yet, there is a significant divide between the “Big 4” sports in America. While most athletes in the NFL wouldn’t complain about their paycheck, in comparison to the NBA, that number is significantly smaller. While star athletes, like Stephen Curry and Patrick Mahomes, don’t necessarily feel the divide, the fans certainly do.

So, while the two young generational talents battle over golf, let’s take a look at how the NBA free agency affects the two markets.

Stephen Curry fights for a few million, while the league clamors for a billion

We are one day into NBA free agency. One. A singular. In a free agency class that was best described as mediocre, you’d expect the total spending amount to be low. Take a guess as to what the total spending was. The correct answer is $1.5 billion.

And that right there is where the divide comes in. While you could point to a bevy of factors to prove why the average NBA player is earning more, the point is the discrepancy gets larger with every passing season.

Mahomes himself, universally recognized as the best Quarterback in the league is going to earn $40,450,000. That mark puts him as the 15th-highest player in the NBA. 4 players signed contracts whose annual pay exceeds that amount, today. Speaking of Mahomes, his running mate Travis Kelce is widely regarded as the best TE in the league. Some, including legendary TE Shannon Sharpe, have even called him the greatest TE of all time. Yet, his contract is worth $57 million over 4 years, while Desmond Bane who is yet to make an All-Star team signed a contract for over $200 million over 5 years.

Another comparison: Lamar Jackson, one of two players to win a unanimous MVP, ala Steph, just signed the largest contract in NFL history at $260 million.?By contrast, Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers, signed a contract worth the same amount.

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So, when an account posed the question, “NFL players must be sick looking at NBA deals,”?fans began theorizing. Either in agreement or disagreement, fans were quick to point to a myriad of reasons for the difference between the two leagues.

Fans theorize the reason for the divide

There are two primary reasons for the humungous divide. One is the obvious disparity in the number of games over a regular season. While the NFL season goes on for 17 weeks with 1 match each week, the NBA season usually stretches for about 6 months with 3-4 games per week.

However, some were quick to jump to the NFL’s defense, pointing to the equally large disparity in ratings.

https://twitter.com/KOD67/status/1675007755189649410?s=20

The second reason is a rather obvious one. An NBA team comprises 15 players, with 9 or 10 getting significant playing time. By comparison, an NFL team has 55 members. By simple maths, you understand why the likelihood of gargantuan contracts is low in football.

A fan brought up an interesting point, though. Is the lack of an overseas market hurting the NFL? While the NBA grows more global by the year: the last 5 MVPs were foreign-born. Before that, 3 out of the previous 71.

But, as all Twitter debates go, this too remains unsolved. As much as the discrepancy exists between the NBA and NFL, a similar difference exists between basketball and baseball, as one fan correctly pointed out.

Every year, the same debate rings through. But, it is one worth having. While the stars of the two leagues get closer during exhibition games, the salary disparity grows by the year. Let’s see where we eventually land. Why do you think the salary discrepancy exists? Let us know.

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