First it was the NFL, now it’s the NBA that’s threatening to force their fans to find another hobby rather than watching hoops during the week. With the dark cloud of a work stoppage hovering over the league, players are preparing for a life outside of basketball this season. While some of the NBA’s elite are financially secure and looking over opportunities to play overseas, not all of the players in the league are afforded that luxury.
BlackEnterprise.com sat down with Indiana Pacers guard Dahntay Jones to discuss exactly what’s going on with the lockout, what his plans are if there is no basketball season, and how his basketball wife, Valeshia Butterfield, is helping him with alternative career plans.
BlackEnterprise.com: Can you give some insight into what’s going on right now with the NBA and the lockout?
Dahntay Jones: As of right now, we’re far apart when it comes to reaching an agreement. It’s about revenue sharing; if big teams should share with little teams and should owners claim that they’re losing this gigantic amount of money. They want us to take the bigger hit because of our salaries and we don’t think that’s the problem. We think we can come to an agreement, but we started so far apart that it’s hard to find a middle ground. We’re not even close to landing a deal. For any normal worker, no matter what your wage is, whether it’s $2 or $2 million, if I come and tell you that we’re cutting your salary in half, you’re going to be upset.
It sounds like the owners want the players to pay for their mistakes.
They don’t want to take responsibility for the steps they’ve taken to get where they are. You have a small market team like San Antonio that wins and makes money. But then you have larger markets that make riskier decisions and lose money. We don’t think the whole NBA is losing money but they don’t want to show us any of their books, so we can’t really be sympathetic to that. If I told you I was losing money I’d just show you everything that I’m losing. Not just part of it and say they I can’t show you the rest.
What’s your response to outside skeptics that say, “Who are you to complain when you make millions playing basketball?â€
The reality is that a majority of players don’t make an exorbitant amount of money. It may be more money than most have but it’s not a drastic amount of money. You try to make that money work on
several different levels and guys are just trying to stay financially secure and take care of their families. Our careers are only for a short period time. A normal worker can work 30-40 years and we work a maximum of 10, with the league average being five. We have to make this money stretch out.Continue reading on the next page…
With the sides being so far apart, a work stoppage seems likely. So what have you been doing to keep yourself busy?
This summer I’ve taken the time to look forward and see what I want to do. I took a course at Syracuse University that’s called “Sportscaster U†and I just wanted to see if that would be something I’m interested in. I got help from the guys at ESPN and learned about the ins and outs of the sports casting world and how intricate it is. I want to test that to see if that’s something I possibly want to do someday. They give you real-life camera experience. It’s something that I’m considering.
I also went to the PAFI [Professional Athletes Franchise Initiative] seminar for athletes at Georgia Tech. That’s something I’ve been interested in. I look at business opportunities that bring people together and improve the community. My cousin [Denver Nuggets forward] Al Harrington
and I are in the works of trying to get a company together where we try to improve the environments in the state of New Jersey so people can live better. Kind of like Magic Johnson and Grant Hill do with other communities. It’s sort of taking care of where you’re from and adding to the growth with what we’ve learned in this world so far.You hear about so many athletes going broke after their career ends. Some of it is due to reckless spending and bad financial habits. What are you doing to ensure you don’t end up in the red after your career ends?
I’m trying to save as much as possible and make better business decisions. Most adults learn the power and meaning of money in their late 20s and early 30s. You have guys coming in at 21 and they’re just now learning how money works. At first you think you’ll make this forever but you soon realize that it’s not. You have to make the best decisions. You have some financial institutions that don’t have our best interest at heart. Basketball is our business, not finance. You have to worry about the people that focus on finance and hope they
make the right decisions for you. There are a lot of guys get caught up by not understanding financial responsibility. I’m looking for things to grow with. It’s not a quick fix here or there. I’m just trying to find things that I’m personally interested in and I can grow as a man who learns more and more.It also doesn’t hurt that you’re married to a woman who is more than a trophy wife. You recently wed Valeshia Butterfield, CEO of WEEN & The Butterfield Group. How are you two working together at this time?
We’re learning how to be resourceful and work together to balance a home budget to make the most out of our money. I just recently married and have never had to think about someone in that capacity before so I’m embracing the fact that I have to worry about my wife and her wellbeing and she worries about me as well. I’m fortunate to have someone who worries about me at a time like this. She helps me just like I help her. She works in a different field than I’m used to but I help her when I can. We’re both learning about the different things that we do.