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| "Taking my ball and running!" |
He missed 26 games this season after injuring his big toe against Butler on Dec. 4th. and the lingering subplot surrounding the Blue Devils was when -- or even if -- he would return. Irving is projected to be the top pick of the upcoming NBA draft. Like I always say, it doesn't get any better than the number 1 pick in the draft. If he were my son I would've encouraged him to leave school as well.
The fact that he missed nearly all of his freshman season due to injury only substantiates the fact that it makes sense to leave school because NBA contracts are guaranteed. That means they aren't incentive based so whatever he signs for he gets if he's still alive to see the end of the contract. A rookie drafted into the NBA in the first round is guaranteed a standard 3 year $10 million deal, no ifs, ands or buts about it. He'll make more money from his initial NBA contract($10M) than the orthopedic surgeon that performed his surgery will make during his entire career($8M). Not to mention the endorsements from Nike, Adidas etc. that come with being a high profile athlete. Now this arguement only applies to about 15 people in the world. So if that doesn't include you go to class.
I wrote a similar article a few months ago entitled "Educated Idiot" Staying in school makes no sense! about Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck on his decision to stay in school after being informed he would be the top pick in this years NFL draft. He passed up even more money like a possible guarantee of $50 million.
Why do we go to school in the first place? To get a degree that will hopefully give us an opportunity to apply for jobs that will secure our futures. Ask the millions of Americans that are laid off or unemployed if it makes sense for Kyre Irving to leave Duke for the guaranteed money. I don't think you'll hear them say that he needs to stay in school and most of them have degrees.
Some people are born with talent that the rest of the world can only marvel at. You either use it or lose it. It doesn't make sense to hang out in college when it isn't going to help you. Just ask Bill Gates or folks like him if school was helpful or a waste of time. I'm not saying that Kyre will become a billionaire but millions counts too. After high school people have to specialize in fields that are conducive to their talents and in this case basketball is it.
I had a conversation about Greg Oden with my mother-n-law years ago when he was still at Ohio State. I was of the mindset that he should leave school right after his freshman year and go to the league. My mother-n-law was for him staying in school. Well, eventually left Ohio State after just one season and was drafted first overall by the Portland Trailblazers in 2007. He had knee surgery before his rookie season and as a result he's only played a total of 82 games which only amounts to one NBA season since being drafted.
If he'd stayed at Ohio State he would be a broke college student with no chance of getting drafted because of his knee problems. I believe Kyre understood the risks and made a big boy decision to get the guaranteed money while it was on the table. He can always go back to school if that's important to him but I can tell you that he won't NEED to ever go back to school.
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.
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