A month ago, Jrue Holiday earned himself an extra million for winning the championship. That was an added bonus in his contract in case of going all the way.
So now with the Washington Wizards, Spencer Dinwidie also has a bonus if he wins the title. And it’s a grand total of 1 dollar. Wait what?!
Although he has legit incentives for staying healthy and playing 50 games, as well as making it into the playoffs, that one buck had to have been inserted there as a joke. There’s no other explanation for it.
And when it comes to these extra dollars, there have been some incredibly wild ones. So we’ll go over them. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it.
First up, the most hilarious player incentive is the so-called weight clause. Teams motivate players to stay in shape by offering some extra money.
In 2009 the Boston Celtics offered Glen Davis a half a million dollar reward if he stayed under a certain weight limit.
Similarly the Spurs put the same amount for Boris Diaw if he managed to not gain 5 pounds in the following 6 months. I mean, it’s funny even saying this, we’re talking about professional athletes.
Other players who have had this same clause in order to incentivize them to be fit are Eddie Curry, Jared Sullinger and Tim Hardaway back in the day.
OK, let’s now move on to the shocker. Which a lot of you may know but just in case.
In 2010, the Oklahoma City Thunder extended their veteran center Nick Collison to a 4 year, 11 million dollar deal.
But the hysterical thing here is possibly the most legendary contract bonus in NBA history.
At 30 years old at that time, averaging 7.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, the Thunder inserted a 100 thousand dollar prize for Collison if he won the MVP award. The MVP, most valuable player in the NBA, yeah this one. Of course, there was no chance of that happening so this offer stands to this day just for the laughs and the memes.
Do you remember Adonal Foyle? Vaguely? Yeah, same.
A career 4 and 5 guy, also had the same MVP bonus in his contract but priced at half a million. Absolutely amazing. And on top of that, he was to get the same amount if he won the finals MVP as well.
Look, being a GM of a team can be a stressful job, so I guess this is how they find a way to have fun. By making these contracts.
But there’s one example where the player actually got the last laugh. And that was the case with Moe Harkless.
In 2016, Harkless, a 35.0% shooter from three up to that point, was offered half a mil from the Blazers if he could stay on that exact pace and have another year of 35% or more from downtown. And 4 games before the end of the season, Moe stood at exactly 35.1. Missing just another shot would mean that he would fall to 34.8 aaand of course no bonus.
So what he did? Dude stopped shooting threes, and did not attempt a single 1 for the last 4 games of the season. And honestly I don’t blame him. That’s a bulletproof way of securing the extra bag. When reporters asked him before the last game if he would shoot a three, his answer was simple. Would you?
And no, as I said, I wouldn’t. Hopefully you liked this fun video with these crazy sounding contract incentives. Let me know of some other interesting ones.
That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.