By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
The stoppage of basketball and sports in general around the world will without a doubt hit the financial situation of the clubs and hence the salaries of everybody on the squads.
That might be especially true for the imported players who are looking to earn outside of their home country and Americans, who in a lot of cases take on the leading role for their teams, are no exception.
“In all these top leagues, there’s always a handful of teams that are right on the brink financially, Any way you look at it, it’s not going to be positive for imports,” Will Voigt, who has been coaching Telekom Baskets Bonn in Germany, told AP News.
Devin Sweetney has been among the players stating that they are owed multiple paychecks by Greek club Panionios and those kinds of situations, as well as the whole situation surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, tend to make players think more about long-term future.
“Now is the time to get your plan together, because you never know. It’s an eye-opener for everybody. It doesn’t seem smart to make big purchases with no job,” Sweetney said.
As Rashad Whack noted, there are those that don’t make enough money playing and tend to find side jobs to make up for it: “The average player that comes home from overseas has a second job or a side hustle to bring in money. We still have to have money coming in, so I went back to doing my security job”
The 29-year-old Whack signed to play in the NBA-affiliated Basketball Africa League but stayed in Los Angeles when the inaugural season was postponed.
Problems will most certainly be big for women’s basketball as well: “You’re going to see some teams fold or not be able to pay as much. Clubs rely on multiple benefactors and sponsors, so with companies being hit, the funding is going to be affected, especially on the women’s side,” Mehryn Kraker explained.