If you follow any professional team sport, you’ve probably heard superstar athletes say dozens of times that the team is the most important thing to them and all they want is to win games (and championships) instead of individual achievements.
Yet you’ve probably then seen those same athletes sign contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars (or even sit out of training camp and regular season games if they don’t get the robust contract they want). I completely understand that these athletes put their bodies and minds through so much to provide entertainment for fans, but these actions seem to conflict with team-first statements.
So in the rare cases that an athlete restructures their contract or even accepts less money to help their team, I’m an instant fan. One of the biggest examples of this just happened a few days ago thanks to New York Knicks player Jalen Brunson. He chose a $156.5 million max deal over the next four years over a much bigger $269.1 million deal that he was contractually obligated to receive. Either way it’s a lot of money, but that’s a massive difference, one that allowed the team to sign two other star players and make a legitimate championship run this year.
I think this is incredible, and while I have no allegiance to the Knicks (or any NBA team), I’m rooting for them in the 2024-2025 season. If Brunson’s true team-first approach works out–and if he does, I hope the Knicks reward him handsomely–perhaps other players will follow this method too.
What do you think about this? Have you seen similar examples in sports you follow?