ESPN.com recently published an article titled How much the NBA’s biggest starts actually earn.
in the article, ESPN partnered with a sports tax expert to analyze the salaries of the league's highest players. They wanted to estimate how much of the players annual salary is left, after deductions. The deductions from the published gross salary included federal, state and city taxes. Other deductions included, Canadian taxes (Kyle Lowry) and a maximum 401k contribution of $18,000. The maximum deduction for individuals under currently IRS rules for 2017
It is reasonable to assume that a player would contribute the maximum contribution under current IRS rules $18,000 per year. However, the with the average career of 4.5 years (source NBA.com). That would only amount to roughly $75,305 if we assume a 3% return. I am sure most spend more than that per month.
The article was interesting and enlightening for several reasons, it touched on a topic that most overlook, taxes. Professional athletes make more than the most workers will see over the course of an entire career, in relatively short period.