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[QUOTE="JOC44, post: 2090558, member: 613"]
I don't think the Apple/Google/Vogue analogies work.  Those examples are for people who can expect to earn a living in their chosen field for around 45 years after college.  For the elite basketball player, the window is probably 10-12 years and then you have to figure out how to support yourself for the next 40 years of your life.  The way the NBA rookie contracts are structured, there isn't that much money getting paid to non-lottery guys during that contract, plus that money is taxed at a really high rate.  That said, every year you spend in college is one year of a limited number of years during which you can play basketball at a high level and get paid for it.

Say a player makes $10 million, you can assume the government takes $4M off the top, and then subtract out living expenses for the life of that contract (and even frugal guys will want a nice house and car), and there's just not a ton of money left over for the rest of your life.  So the pure economic play is to do whatever is most likely to get you a lucrative second contract, whether it's stay in school and improve/mature, or get into the league and start the clock ticking on that first contract.

On the other hand, if a player aspires to have a workaday job when his playing career is over, it's not as big a worry to get to the second contract and make enough so you never have to work again.  And if you're Tyler Ennis, and basically were not likely to get better, get into the league before they figure that out.
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