Crazy week in the sports world. Lebron’s chosen son, Bronny, suffered a cardiac arrest on the court. He lived, thankfully. However, now his entire career is in question. The good news is his dad is practically a billionaire, so he’ll be fine without basketball (financially). As I mentioned the other day, Saquon Barkley signed a one year deal loaded with incentive bonuses and 2 million guaranteed money. Also, as I alluded to in past conversations, the media ate him alive for signing… Just as they themselves fabricated the specter of him not signing. That is how it goes with the media, sadly. The 24 hr news cycle demands you have a story out of anything. Case and point: the recent series of ‘articles’ around this topic. Basically, LeBron and a few other NBA stars joked about the absurd ($774 million) contract offer to Mbappe, which he turned down. They suggested that they may find reason to take such a contract. I mean, I get the joke, but articles about the threat to the NBA are foolish. Again, he turned it down. What’s even more absurd is the $222.5 million the Saudi club, Al Hilal, paid to get the opportunity to negotiate with Mbappe. That’s a truly astonishing amount of money changing hands. Oil money is just unreal.
And he turned it down.
Thus far, Ronaldo is the only one to take the Saudi money. We can talk about the Golf money another time (because LIV won that one to be sure). Mbappe wasn’t the only one to say no. Lionel Messi also said no. Instead he followed in the footsteps of LeBron James and…
Messi hit the ground running. He’s won the first two games he’s played in. I really mean him. He won the first with a penalty kick and in the second scored two goals and two assists. Dude is getting $50-60 million annually to win those games, and he’s doing it in a place he loves… albeit for a hundred million a year less than he could have made.
Such is sports…