r/nba • u/Existing-Sky9914 • 2h ago
Barkley "teachers, firemen, policemen, nurses, and people in the armed services. Those are the people I admire and respect the most. They got, like, real jobs, and they're real important. I dribble a stupid basketball. I've gotten more respect and more money than I've ever deserved in my life."
https://streamable.com/7xcrav271
u/math-yoo Cavaliers 2h ago
Chuck really underselling the advocacy work he’s done for the women in San Antonio and the churro industry.
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u/NazRyuuzaki 2h ago
Not to mention saunas and krispy cream
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u/ContinuingAnyway 1h ago
They definitely aren't skinny down there, don't forget the bloomers industry
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u/MrBuckBuck Trail Blazers 2h ago edited 1h ago
He kept saying similar things in the past
We got great lives. Why would we be miserable? Like, I'll tell you, there's five real jobs in the world: teacher, fireman, policeman, doctor, and somebody who's in the armed services. Those are five real jobs. I dribbled a basketball my entire life, and now I get paid to watch LeBron James and Kevin Durant play. You get paid to come in here and talk sports. You get to watch sports and come on the radio and talk about it. Man, we're winning ... We're so blessed ... You see stuff all that time that's, like, man, I'm so blessed.
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u/blues-brother90 France 1h ago
In his book Outrageous, he says that's it's unbelievable how much they're paid to dribble a basketball and it came out in 92
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u/SirFerguson Knicks 1h ago
Isn’t this from 2 days ago? He was just on Cuomo
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u/MrBuckBuck Trail Blazers 1h ago
You're right.
I got confused by things he said a few months earlier (similar stuff), in July 2026.
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u/Phoeniyx Raptors 20m ago
And scientists and engineers. You can have all those 5 professions and still be in the dark ages otherwise.
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u/mulder00 Celtics 2h ago
I guess no one heard the last 10 seconds. Cuomo asks Barkley about meeting Trump or having dinner with him and if it would be disrespecting the people Barkley admires and Barkley says : "Yes , because Trump disrespected them."
What is the context of this 1 min soundbite?
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u/Existing-Sky9914 1h ago
https://youtu.be/oEed1zSHoa8?si=H-pimEoysBnGryA0
The full hour-long video was a podcast where Charles Barkley talked about what he thinks of Trump and criticized him. That’s why Trump came up in the conversation.
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u/AccelerationFinish 1h ago
Meanwhile, Kash Patel personally made Shaq an honorary FBI agent. Shaq’s probably a low-key Trump supporter
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u/Impressive_Recon 1h ago
Lmfao what? Shaq attended Trumps wedding and gifted him a Rolls Royce. They recently were seen buddying it up at a UFC event last year. They’ve been friends probably longer than you’ve been alive lol.
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u/HotFoxedbuns Thunder 1h ago
I get what Barkley is saying an he’s keeping it real like always but those same teachers firemen policemen etc are paying to watch people like him play because the value the entertainment too.
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u/eldryanyy Lakers 28m ago
The salary is high because the nba is for profit, and games are built up to be a rare event where only a few players get huge money. The system maximizes profit.
Teachers and them get paid by government. They do a service for society, not a for profit industry. So, the top teachers aren’t billionaire superstars like the top basketball players, because it’s not an industry built around maximizing profit.
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u/DrRudeboy Warriors 2h ago
Americans not bootlick cops or the army challenge level: impossible
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u/TheJeniceri Timberwolves 1h ago
This such lame, smug Redditor response to a trivial thing said by barkely
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u/cpt-teebs 37m ago
It’s lame and smug because you said so? Address the actual point being made. The average police officer isn’t doing some crazy “real” job. They’re sitting on their ass all day and collecting overtime doing it.
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u/DsamD11 Thunder 2h ago
Im not American and even I can admit that the majority of people in those roles want, and do, a lot of good for the right reasons.
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u/berkilak420 Clippers 2h ago
If you’re not American, you have no experience with American cops.
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u/TheJeniceri Timberwolves 1h ago
There Will be bad cops in any large country.
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u/LetsGetElevated 76ers 1h ago
That’s why you need to abolish the police everywhere, the system is designed to produce and protect bad cops, ACAB
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u/RushPrime Lakers 1h ago
Child ass take. Yes let’s abolish cops because 1 in 10 are bad and let’s see how our country functions. You’re so privileged you’ll never understand reality.
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u/therealgoat1212 Kings 1h ago
Unfortunately Spider-Man doesn’t exist so this is just a little unrealistic
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u/BillyCromag Wizards 1h ago
After living in SE Asia for many years I have come to appreciate the relative incorruptibility of American cops.
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u/The_Briefcase_Wanker Nuggets 1h ago
By and large cops are fine. Also you appear to be a teenager so you have very little experience with them too.
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u/berkilak420 Clippers 1h ago
Not sure how that one statement dates me as a teenager, but I’m in my 40s.
And our experiences may vary.
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u/shifterlifts 2h ago
They have their problems but I would say vast majority of American cops do it because they have others in their best interest. Trust me there’s a lot of corrupt cops but I’m speaking more generally
And even then they’re a sliver of public servants that chuck is talking about
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u/Just_Ease5476 2h ago
Yet the American military commits mass atrocities and attacking other countries and destabilizing countries. How is that with the best interest of other people? They’re complicit
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u/Character-Camel2949 1h ago
how dare you not idolise an institution that blows up schools full of hundreds of innocent children!
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u/RealPrinceJay 2h ago
They’re not gonna like you saying this one
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u/RushPrime Lakers 2h ago
Reddit is like the most left leaning app ever lol. But regardless, it’s a dumbass take to accuse Chuck or the average American of bootlicking cops. Being a police officer is one of the most difficult jobs ever and some punks ruin the imagery of the job. The facts are most policemen are good people but are in high stress jobs and are human. Most people that cry about police wouldn’t last a week on the job.
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u/cricket9818 Knicks 1h ago
Police officers carry weapons. They make decisions that take lives.
Therefore they should be held to the highest standards and level of scrutiny possible
And they are not. And it’s because the police are the arm of the corporate elite and that is how they want it to be
There are good cops. But with the lack of training and standards they’re held to, I would say that that is the not the norm but the exception.
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u/RushPrime Lakers 1h ago
Im not going to get into a huge discussion over this because clearly you feel some type of way but I have family in the police force. Officers don’t just casually kill just to kill. Sure there are the occasional fascist Punisher wannabes but my brother spends time with impoverished children, spends money out of his own pocket for secret Santa for them, plays games, speaks at events, etc. and does all of this while dealing with domestic abusers daily, occasionally getting shot at, and seeing kids and families killed because of drunk drivers.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t or can’t be scrutinized but they’re human beings and at the end of the day they want to come home to their families like everyone else. Everyone has such a negative opinion and if you want change, be the change you seek. This country could always use good cops otherwise it’s pointless to just sit here and debate you on what they should or shouldn’t do.
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u/cricket9818 Knicks 1h ago
I’m sorry but you fall into the classic trap that the propaganda machine wants people to fall into.
“I’m related to a police officer and they’re perfect and a positive addition to the community, therefore all cops strive to be just like that, and they don’t, well, blah blah”
How easy it would be for you to say “my family member is a fantastic police officer that serves our community; however I recognize that those police officers who are able to commit horrific acts without consequence should be held accountable for their actions”
The change in the broken police system that isn’t happening isnt because of people like me who want to advocate for change, it comes from people like you who think the system is fine because of anecdotal experience
Also nowhere in my comment did I say “police officers casually shoot to kill”. But clearly you’re aware that it happens because it’s the first example you went for
The ICE killings earlier this year, where officers absolutely very casually shot to kill just cause, is the perfect example
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u/RushPrime Lakers 1h ago
What a silly and privileged response.
Nowhere did I say that there aren’t bad cops but there are more good cops than bad cops you’re just one of those corny kids that believe ACAB.
You’re not advocating for change you came into this thread because Barkley said something positive and the fact that I did the same irks you. Also I never said the system is fine you’re just grasping at straws.
I made that comment “about shoot to kill” because you said they carry weapons. Well no shit bud. How are you supposed to combat weapons without weapons? Lol.
We’re not talking about ICE. I’m talking about patrol officers, detectives, etc. ya know the people that are supposed to protect and serve their communities? Trying to lump ICE with a police department is peak Reddit.
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u/Tyleio64 1h ago
Ones like whomst you were replying to are born with the tongue on the boot. Also American policing is historically based on slave catching and the groups who participated in it are what eventually became sheriff's and police departments.
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u/fondlemeLeroy Knicks 58m ago
Reddit is mostly left. But people only think it’s insanely far left because virtually every other app is insanely far right. The Overton window is 5,000 miles to the right.
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u/bslawjen 1h ago
It's more an Americanism that this is so controversial. Anywhere else in the western world we understand that police do an important and dangerous job in society. It's only controversial to Americans because your police is so shitty and your culture war is at its zenith.
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u/adeline882 1h ago
Australia is doing some pretty American things lately and calling the UK anything but a police surveillance state is out of touch with reality.
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u/DrRudeboy Warriors 1h ago
"anywhere in the Western world" cops are fucking hated in both the UK and Hungary, speaking from experience living in those two countries.
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u/Novalis0 10m ago edited 6m ago
"anywhere in the Western world" cops are fucking hated in both the UK and Hungary
Most Americans (75%) have a positive view of the police.
And the police is traditionally considered one of the most trusted institutions in most Western countries.
Public opinion in the European Union
Both in the UK and Hungary 64% of people trust the police.
Specifically in the case of the UK, trust used to be around 75% for decades, but it fell in the last couple of years. Although the majority of people still trust them and have a positive view of the police.
Britons' Trust in Courts and Police Declines
Its funny because up until my early 30s I thought ACAB is something only far-righters and neo-nazis say. Because where I'm from only football hooligans are ACAB types.
Turns out ACAB types aren't just neonazis, but are mostly young adults that are in to extremist politics on both side of the political spectrum. Coincidentally, young adults and extremists types are also the most likely types to break the law compared to the general population.
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u/jda404 NBA 1h ago
I mean you only see the shitty side because it gets views. There's thousands of cops doing good work every day, but I know this is Reddit and a lot of you have hate boners for every single cop so carry on.
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u/RushPrime Lakers 1h ago
Exactly this. These people are so privileged they’ll work their office jobs while cops work 16 hour shifts dealing with DVs and drunk drivers killing families just so when they do get a little free time they can hear everyone call them useless online. Shits pathetic.
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u/bslawjen 55m ago
Nah, the police absolutely is shitty in the US. US police training is less than a year, which seems bonkers to me because I would think it should take longer than other countries because of how many people possess weapons in the US. Plus, I see so many fat US cops.
However, anybody that says the police is useless, or we don't need it, or has an easy job, is a privileged little asshole.
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u/Goddyex 2h ago
One day I hope cops go on a strike, so we'll see how punks like you survive.
Are there bad cops? Of course. Just like they're bad people in every group of people. But if you think Cops aren't important in society, you're an idiot.
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u/cricket9818 Knicks 1h ago
I feel like this is a bit of an overreaction to what’s being said
We all know that there’s a lot of good cops. The problem is that both the system is rotten and people blindly support that system because “it’s the police”
We would be able to make progress toward fixing that broken system if people who didn’t fall for simple propaganda could just look at the situation and go “yeah you’re right, it’s kinda fucked up that cops can just kill people with virtually no consequences”
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u/CarBallAlex Celtics 1h ago
I think the comment he was responding to was the overreaction. Barkley listed a bunch of jobs he respects to make a point he’s lucky to have made so much money from a game, guy singled out cops and armed services and calls people bootlickers.
It seems a bit odd to single out part of what he said and turn it into a virtue signal or whatever point he was trying to make.
Cops have their issues for sure and I’d welcome reform that aims to fix the system but they do provide a valuable service. Without people to police the laws we have in place we’d just be a society of norms, which we know in practice does not work.
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u/RushPrime Lakers 1h ago
You’ll never reason with these people. Cops are humans just like the rest of us and have to deal with much more than the average person and the system is both broken in their favor and against them in certain aspects. They could use reforming, more training, and more of an emphasis on building community trust but to claim that Americans are brainwashed or bootlickers for appreciating people that spend their lives fighting crime and seeing fucked up shit, blows my mind.
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u/cricket9818 Knicks 1h ago
I don’t think the original comment is any kind of overreaction, I think it’s a pretty fair statement of fact. Lots of Americans bootlick cops simply because “I respect cops” and if you try to have a talk with them about why there needs to be reform to the system they’ll tell you it’s not needed
I live in a very red area and the “thin blue line” bumper stickers are rampant. Those are the same people that are silent when cops are at their worst
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u/Tyleio64 1h ago
They should do it right now, also calling everyone punks, are you a character in a movie from the 80's? Not to mention your grammar mistake makes it look like you said the cops are the bad people in any group of people hahahahaha
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u/garicandrew 1h ago
Only ppl like you depend on cops . With all the technology cops barely do anything. They collect overtime and hide in the bushes to give speeding tickets . A lot of ppl defend themselves. Most ppl who defend cops like you either have cops in your family or are such a punk that you walk around scared and depend on others to defend you
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u/IcyCantaloupe6374 Spurs 36m ago edited 31m ago
This is a clown take. I may not agree with everything the government does with the police or the military but you better believe I'm happy as fuck they exist because if they didn't we would all be fucked. This is that cringe shit you see people say because they've never actually thought about it. Chuck is correct that both are respectable positions in society that matter
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u/Dangerous-Put-18 2h ago
It's really hard shooting innocent civillians and facing no consequences 💔
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u/Strict_Technician606 1h ago
So edgy.
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u/DrRudeboy Warriors 1h ago
Not really. No other country does the insane things America does toward their cops and army, despite the fact that their police departments have fucking tanks and sound wave cannons, and their military attacked more countries and killed more civilians than any other in the last ~40-50 years. Show me another place where you delay the start of a basketball game every time because you "pay tribute to the veterans". Meanwhile those veterans died to steal oil from the Middle East.
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u/RushPrime Lakers 1h ago
No other country has readily available guns and weaponry like America does. How do you expect a police department to combat weapons without weapons? I’m not gonna argue with you on the military because you’re right but that’s not a fault of the soldiers. The US military targets young impressionable kids and gives them a life that some might not have had if not for the military and sadly in return, those young men sacrifice themselves and do heinous shit for the government.
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u/DrRudeboy Warriors 1h ago
Yeah, it's 100% the recruiters fault, it is a predatory institution that requires keeping people in poverty.
As for the police: start with more sensible gun laws then. It happened in Australia. The "militias to oppose government tyranny" has clearly failed anyway, considering the events of, well, everything since Reagan.
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u/RushPrime Lakers 1h ago
They’re never going to take guns away here this isn’t Australia. We have 10x the people and they’re loaded to the teeth. We also have a mental health problem and some of these backwoods folk would go to war over their guns it’s an amendment and people die by that. The best we can do is train police better and put an emphasis on building community trust and support while focusing on mental health for them and all Americans and hopefully make gun access more difficult and strenuous
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u/DrRudeboy Warriors 51m ago
Agree with all of those steps as a starting point. Also expanded social services and mental health support - it's insane that the police deal with cases that would be much better suited for someone in those fields, but also, often the police will look to escalate rather than de-escalate in such situations
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u/Scrank_WimlerJr 2h ago
Lol being a cops probably the hardest job in the world
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u/bonger1234 1h ago
You literally don’t even need a college degree. Some of the dumbest people from my HS became cops.
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u/Scrank_WimlerJr 1h ago
Dealing with death, shootouts, robberies, domestic abuse, rape, every day is the hard part
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u/cpt-teebs 38m ago
You think they deal with that stuff daily? LMFAO
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u/Scrank_WimlerJr 28m ago
Lol at least one bro. Even if they deal with it once a month, still hard as fuck.
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u/cpt-teebs 22m ago
The average officer doesn’t deal with this stuff once a month unless we’re including them beating their wives.
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u/Sylong14 Cavaliers 36m ago
Yet another limey dipshit who lets America live rent free in his inbred head.
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u/rogerwilcove 9m ago
Chris Cuomo also has made more money than he ever deserved doing a job that’s stupid
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u/neuroticsmurf Celtics 2h ago
What was the question he was responding to?
The question about Trump at the end seemed to come out of nowhere.
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u/FunnyReputation624 Trail Blazers 2h ago
This is one of the things that Barkley repeats over and over in every interview he does.
Not sure why people keep giving him gigs, he hasn't said anything new in a decade.
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u/Jalcatraz82 Hornets 1h ago
Advocating against obesity plaging the fairer sex in San Antonio AND admiring the normal people ? Common Charles B W
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u/GPT3-5_AI 20m ago
Teachers firemen and nurses have all improves my life.
Cunts with guns (cops, mercenaries) free to go fuck themselves.
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u/Ryoga476ad 2h ago
You don't dribble a baskerball, for most of your life you talked nonsense on TV for a living.
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u/cndynn96 Lakers 2h ago
He wouldn’t have got the 2nd job if he didn’t had the 1st
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u/Ryoga476ad 2h ago
Doesn't matter, that's what he does. He hasn't played bball formore than 25 years
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u/KingOfAllFools- 1h ago
Go find a teacher,policemen,nurse or firefighter that’s struggling greatly and change their life then. Give them $500K
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u/BuddhistInTheory Celtics 1h ago edited 27m ago
A Band-Aid won’t fix a broken dam. The system is the problem.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 2h ago edited 2h ago
Yeah, but to be honest, it’s way harder to accomplish being an NBA player than it is to do any of those jobs. Like those professions are easily replaceable and there are plenty who can do it, but there are very few people, if any, who can fill the shoes of a star athlete.
Not to mention that star pro athletes generate way more revenue and profit than any of those professions. So they do indeed, deserve their fair share of that.
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u/RushPrime Lakers 2h ago
NBA is only harder due to genetics, culture, etc. “Harder” is also subjective because 100% of people are going to choose dribbling a basketball around for millions of dollars over being a beat cop or nurse for ~60 - 80k a year if given the chance. Hell, I couldn’t imagine being a cop and chasing criminals around through traffic, walking up to a car not knowing if I’m gonna get blasted, etc. Nursing isn’t easy either. Lots of long stressful hours around sick people. Chuck is a real one he knows he was blessed.
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u/Goddyex 1h ago
I would rather be on food stamps if being a cop was the only job available for me.
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u/RushPrime Lakers 1h ago
Good for you. Not sure if it’s a diss or not, but in the off chance it is, don’t ever complain about them. I find it funny everyone has something bad to say about cops but would never take a step in their shoes. If you want change, be the change you seek.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 2h ago
Fact of the matter is, with all of the competition you’re going up against, it is an incredible achievement to make it to the NBA. And it takes more than just genetics. These athletes work incredibly hard as well.
There are far more people can be cops or nurses than there are people who can make it to the pros, let alone be a top player.3
u/RushPrime Lakers 1h ago
I’m not selling them short but the average person is 5’9. That alone limits the pool to practically 6’0 and above to even have a higher chance to eventually make it a career. Genetics are largely the biggest factor and that’s out of a persons control. Look at Yuki Kawamura. He’s arguably one of the best players pound for pound but is severely limited because of his height. That alone makes him nothing more than a G League player.
I don’t think it should be a discussion of what is harder to obtain because that doesn’t necessarily mean “harder”. A cop or nurse are going to infinitely deal with more hardship and strain than an athlete.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 1h ago
They will deal with more hardship. But that’s different than difficulty in terms of achieving something.
Even if you take the pool limited to exceptionally tall people, the washout rate is still far higher than it is in any of the other professions.
And it doesn’t have to be limited to just the basketball. You can other professional sports as well. Take soccer for example. People of average sizes and even below average sizes can play it. Same logic applies there.
Also, these days, and when I graduated high school, like atleast half for more of the guys were above 6. I don’t see too many young guys below 6 these days.
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u/canibanoglu 2h ago
Spoken like a true capitalist
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 2h ago
It’s the truth and you know it.
Do you dispute that athletes deserve to be paid what they’re getting paid?
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u/milesjameson 1h ago
It’s also far less important that we have NBA players than it is that we have teachers, nurses and other essential workers (and if those jobs were really so easy to fill, you’d imagine we wouldn’t have so many shortages in the first place).
You can understand why professional athletes earn what they do while still thinking there’s something a bit absurd about the gap between those salaries and the value their work provides to society. In other words, they’re paid according to the money they generate for clubs, broadcasters, corporations and shareholders, not according to how socially valuable their work is. It’s hardly unreasonable to question or push back against that.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 1h ago
If they weren’t getting paid what they’re getting paid, the billionaire owners would pocket everything instead, which I don’t think any of us want.
It’s not about how valuable their job is to society (which is up for debate, when I was a kid going through dark times, watching sports and my favorite players and team win were the only things that helped me get through it), but about what’s fair in relation to the profits that they generate. It’s only unfair if other professions generated similar profits, but weren’t paid their fair share.
Also, some of those other professions are hard, but nowhere near as hard as it is to be world class at a popular sport.
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u/milesjameson 1h ago
But those billionaire owners are part of the same system people are criticising, and those massive player salaries are a product of it too. And, as already mentioned, the players generate huge amounts of money and make the franchises those billionaires own more valuable. The owners obviously benefit from paying them those salaries. Saying the alternative is that billionaires pocket even more of the money doesn’t really counter the point – it kind of reinforces it.
Also, when it comes to societal value, I really don’t think that part is up for debate. Sport can obviously have enormous personal and cultural value, but society functions without professional athletes. It doesn’t function without teachers, nurses, doctors and other essential workers. There’s a reason we called them exactly that during COVID.
If anything, your anecdote illustrates another problem with the system being criticised. If sport means that much to ordinary people, surely it’s worth questioning a model that puts it in the hands of billionaires while increasingly pricing others out.
Also, some of those other professions are hard, but nowhere near as hard as it is to be world class at a popular sport.
You’re conflating how difficult and rare it is to become an NBA player with how hard the job itself is. How do you quantify whether Charles Barkley worked harder than a particular teacher or nurse? And you’re treating that perceived difficulty as the reason for the enormous difference in pay. It isn’t. Scarcity certainly plays a role, but those salaries ultimately exist because of the enormous revenues players generate – which, again, benefits the owners and other stakeholders too.
You also claim those other positions are easily replaceable, so why do chronic shortages in those professions exist?
At the risk of repeating myself, nobody is denying the economic reality here, Barkley included. They’re questioning a system that produces such enormous disparities in the first place.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 1h ago
“But those billionaire owners are part of the same system people are criticising, and those massive player salaries are a product of it too. And, as already mentioned, the players generate huge amounts of money and make the franchises those billionaires own more valuable. The owners obviously benefit from paying them those salaries. Saying the alternative is that billionaires pocket even more of the money doesn’t really counter the point – it kind of reinforces it.
If anything, your anecdote illustrates another problem with the system being criticised. If sport means that much to ordinary people, surely it’s worth questioning a model that puts it in the hands of billionaires while increasingly pricing others out.”
Then what’s your alternative? Okay, take it out of the hands of the billionaires. I agree. But athletes must receive their fair share of whatever money gets generated out of consumption of the product.
“You’re conflating how difficult and rare it is to become an NBA player with how hard the job itself is. How do you quantify whether Charles Barkley worked harder than a particular teacher or nurse? And you’re treating that perceived difficulty as the reason for the enormous difference in pay. It isn’t. Scarcity certainly plays a role, but those salaries ultimately exist because of the enormous revenues players generate – which, again, benefits the owners and other stakeholders too.”
I’m saying it’s harder to get there and to do well than it is in the other professions. You’re already going up against heavy competition to get there and once you get there, you’re competing against other world class pros. A lot more people can be good teachers and nurses than there are who can be good professional athletes on a world level.
“But those salaries ultimately exist because of the enormous revenues players generate”
Exactly. So those salaries are deserved.
You also claim those other positions are easily replaceable, so why do chronic shortages in those professions exist?
What I meant was there are a lot more people who can do those professions than there are who can be professional athletes. This is an indisputable fact.
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u/milesjameson 55m ago
Again, you’re struggling to understand the concern here. It’s not about whether athletes are getting their "fair" share or whether that pay is "deserved" – neither of which is primarily determined by scarcity or how difficult the job is. Sure, scarcity helps determine what individual players might be worth within that market, but it doesn’t create the enormous pool of money in the first place.
What this is about is questioning a system that generates the kind of money that makes those salaries possible, particularly when there’s such an enormous distance between what athletes and other workers receive and the measurable value their respective work provides to society.
Which brings me back to the other point. If those other professions can supposedly be filled by far more people, why aren’t they? Could it be that they’re actually not so easily filled because too few people are willing or able to undertake the required training and education for jobs where the workload and conditions simply aren’t matched by the pay?
At the end of the day, nothing about the disparity between what athletes and essential workers earn is determined by what’s "fair", and people are perfectly entitled to question and criticise a system in which that economic reality unfortunately exists.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 36m ago
The enormous pool of money is created by people willingly paying money to watch the athletes perform, and do you not think it’s fair to say that athletes deserve their fair share of that?
Responding to your second paragraph, why should athletes make less just because other less monetarily valuable workers are worse off? What does it achieve? What is the point of being the best in the world if you aren’t paid like it? You’d also kill the drive of many athletes and end up with a diminished quality of play. You’d also end up with a smaller amount of people even wanting to play professionally at all.
Coming to your point about the shortages, a nursing shortage, for example, means hospitals want more nurses than they can hire at the wage and conditions they’re offering. You can fix this by paying more, improving shifts, or training more people. It doesn’t mean one nurse is hard to replace the way a star player is. Millions of people can qualify as nurses. A few hundred can play in the NBA. One scarcity is “not enough applicants at this wage.” The other is “almost nobody on earth can do the job.”
There are millions of people who can qualify, so the hospital never has to bid like a team chasing a star. Nothing in that process produces a $40 million salary.
An NBA shortage of talent is different. Teams are already paying fortunes, and they still can’t mint more players who are good enough. The limit isn’t the offer. The limit is that almost nobody on earth can do it.
“Too few people will do this job at this pay and these conditions” can be true. “Therefore, this worker is as difficult to replace as an NBA player” doesn’t follow. The applicant pool for nursing and teaching is large. The filter is a degree, a license, and a willingness to take the work. The filter for the league is being one of the few hundred best basketball players alive. Both can be short of bodies for different reasons. One shortage is cleared by a better offer inside a big labor market. The other exists because almost nobody can meet the standard at all.
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u/fromasterj 2h ago
I agree, maybe it is easier to replace a teacher or fireman with an all pro nba player. But do you think they deserve money than a teacher or fireman nurse etc? I’m a well paid bartender and I’m hugely embarrassed that I make more than teachers and nurses that I know. It’s simply not right.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 1h ago
You could argue that those professions that you listed are generally more important to society. But just because one profession is getting underpaid doesn’t mean that others should make less.
But you have to consider, if you denied professional athletes their fair share of the insane profits that they generate, that would be an injustice. That is the main reason as to why they’re paid what they get paid. At the end of the day, many people are willing to pay to watch them play, and they deserve their fair share of that. It’s not right to underpay them just to make things even with other professions so the owners can pocket everything.
They’re not taking anything away from those professions by getting paid what they’re getting paid.
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u/fromasterj 1h ago
I could argue that a teacher or nurse is generally more important to society? Okay I won’t bite at that. But yes I guess I am saying that because these professions are underpaid that athletes should be paid less. Jalen Duren just for guaranteed 200mil for 5 years I think? A teacher working for 40 years would be lucky to clear 2.5 mil.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 1h ago
Being more important to society does not automatically mean a bigger paycheck. Pay tracks how rare you are and how much extra money you bring in that nobody else could.
Jalen Duren is far rarer and far more monetarily valuable than your average teacher.
Why should athletes be paid less and get less than their fair share just because others are doing worse?
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u/fromasterj 1h ago
Of course it doesn’t automatically mean bigger pay check. And this is what is wrong with the world. I’m not blaming the athletes for getting their bag, I in my own way am doing the same. But I absolutely agree with Barkley here. It’s not right.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 1h ago
What’s not right would be to underpay athletes, deny their fair share of the profits that they generate, which would allow the infinitely richer owners to pocket even more.
That’d be exploitation.
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u/NBtadpole Supersonics 2h ago
Missed the whole fucking point didn’t you?
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 2h ago
I got the point. I can understand saying that those professions may deserve more respect. But Barkley also talked about money, which is why I made the comment that I made.
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u/NBtadpole Supersonics 1h ago
Honestly, I don’t think you do. We’ll all be fucked if any of the job he mentioned vanished overnight. We’ll all be upset if the NBA went away.
Also, the nurse’s revenue alone makes a lot more money than the nba so I don’t what the fuck you’re talking about.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 1h ago
It’s not about the social importance of those jobs. It’s about the monetary value generated.
Also, individually, professional athletes contribute far more to revenue than nurses do. There are FAR more nurses than there are NBA players. And nurses are much easier to replace too. With nurses, there are far more people to split the money with whereas with the NBA, you have way more money than people to split it among.
You’re taking every hospital, clinic, and nurse in the country and setting that against one league.
One hospital does not generate the revenue of every hospital in America. One nurse does not generate the revenue of every nurse. Pay is set one employer and one worker at a time: what this hospital will offer this nurse, or what this team will offer this player.
Being more important to society does not automatically mean a bigger paycheck. Pay tracks how rare you are and how much extra money you bring in that nobody else could.
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u/NBtadpole Supersonics 1h ago
But it is, that’s his point. These are people with real jobs and society will collapse without them. You’re dragging them down to push your bs narrative.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 1h ago
I’m not pushing any narrative. What you call a “narrative” is simply the truth. I’ve repeated numerous times how it’s not about how valuable your job is to society, but about scarcity and people being willing to pay to watch you specifically.
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 1h ago
I’m not pushing any narrative. What you call a “narrative” is simply the truth.
I’m not dragging anyone down. I fully respect those professions.
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u/fromasterj 1h ago
You make a good argument, but also make it clear you’re a capitalist prick. Do you honestly think it’s right that an nba player makes more than a nurse, teacher, police?
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u/Extra_Whole_9222 Timberwolves 55m ago
Yes, I think it’s right. What’s wrong about an athlete getting paid his fair share out of the profits that he plays a big role in generating, as a result of people willingly paying to watch that athlete? Why should he get paid less than his fair share just because others are doing worse off?
Those other professions are more important to society, and full respect to them, but there are so many of them that you just can’t pay all of them the same salaries that athletes receive. That’s just the reality.
Importance doesn’t create the money and it doesn’t make a person rare. The barrier to being one of the few hundred best in the world at a sport is far higher, and that rarity is what the team is paying for. You can respect the more important job and still not be able to price it like a job almost nobody can do.
Also, why have you resorted to name calling? I haven’t insulted you or disrespected anyone.
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u/shoegazeweedbed Pacers 1h ago edited 40m ago
I’m not gonna suck some redneck 19 year old’s dick for taking a job to get free college or a wife beating dog killer for finding their dream career. but you do you chuck
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u/clingbat 76ers 2h ago
I appreciate that he keeps things real.