How can one possibly expect Andrew Wiggins to pretend to be a college student for a year? And why would you want to? Andrew Wiggins apparently has a 10-year, $180 million shoe contract with Adidas.
The Deseret News writes:
Original offers from Adidas and Nike both started around $140 million. That number jumped another $40 million basically overnight, according to a report by CBS Sports. That is a significant amount of money and an unusually long contract, even for the supposed best prospect since LeBron James.
Note, the offer is dependent on Andrew Wiggins entering the NBA after one season at Kansas.
According to multiple media sources, the bidding likely won’t end this soon, though. While Andrew Wiggins sits back and watches his stock rise, Nike, Adidas and also Under Armor will continue to push the figure to even higher ranks of ridiculous.
According to ESPNU analyst and former Blue Devils star Jay Williams, there’s a freshman who has a $50 million shoe deal already in place. And it’s not Andrew Wiggins. So I’m guessing it’s likely Jabari Parker. Williams raised a great point when he revealed this on WGN Radio a couple week ago. What coach, even someone as large in stature as Bill Self could keep a kid like that grounded while coaching him?
Even if Andrew Wiggins is the most humble kid imaginable, how do you stay grounded when you have life changing amount of money right there in front of you?
This is the year that everyone and I mean everyone comes to realize that the one-and-done rule is the basketball version of the BCS. By that I mean it completely defies any logic, it’s beyond stupid, and no one with a functioning brain can defend it. This year, the fab four freshmen: Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon will likely be the top four picks in the NBA Draft, proving how beyond stupid it is to force blue chip basketball players to do one year as a faux college student when they’re ready to go pro.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS Catch him Tuesdays talking Illini and Northwestern for KOZN 1620 The Zone, Fridays talking Chicago Bears for WAOR 95.7 The Fan