Bradley Beal has already made over $177 million during his NBA career, and he’s contracted to earn another $251 million. By the time his career is over, he will have made nearly $429 million.
Beal is a very fine player, but that is a crazy amount of money for a player who is far from one of the all-time greats. And seeing that kind of money go to a player like Beal has Charles Barkley wishing he played in the current era.
Barkley joined JP Finlay on the “Washington Football Talk” podcast. The Hall of Fame player was asked for his reaction to Beal’s five-year, $251 million deal.
“Let me tell you something. My mom—I love my mom, she passed away a few years ago. Every time I see one of those contracts, I want to drive to the graveyard and just snatch her up and say, ‘Why couldn’t you just wait a couple more years to have me?! Just a couple more years!”
https://twitter.com/NBCSWizards/status/1547219368752340992
That is classic Barkley.
Barkley played from 1984-2000 and made over $40 million during his career. He had numerous endorsement deals and has since become enormously popular as a broadcaster. He’s not hurting for money. But he’d be making multiple hundreds of millions if he played in today’s NBA.
Despite this, Chuck isn’t a hater and realizes salaries increase over time.
“You know what? Bless these young guys,” Barkley said. “Bradley Beal’s a hell of a player. I don’t ever want to be the old ‘Get off my lawn’ guy. I made more money than Bill Russell, he’s a much better player than me. I made more money than Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], he’s a much, much better player than me. Hey, God bless them. It’s good work if you can get it.”
It sure is good work. It’s even better money.
