The Teenagers Getting Six Figures to Leave Their High Schools for Basketball | Hacker News Reader

The Teenagers Getting Six Figures to Leave Their High Schools for Basketball

nytimes.com

17 pointssyspec23 comments

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https://archive.md/KdsDY

Man this website is wonderful

I just realised it has a an FAQ: https://archive.ph/faq

It's fun read:

> How is the archive funded?

> It is privately funded; there are no complex finances behind it. It may look more or less reliable compared to startup-style funding or a university project, depending on which risks are taken into account.

but doesn't seem to be very up to date

> Will advertising appear on the archive one day ?

> I cannot make a promise that it will not. With the current growth rate I am able to keep the archive free of ads. Well, I can promise it will have no ads at least till the end of 2014.

although true.

This reminds me of ycombinator. Exploit young people into entering a lottery where the only winner is the diversified investor.

Anyone who can get into YC can easily find a well-paying job elsewhere, which is not true for a teenage dropout whose only skill is basketball

These are some of the best athletes at their age. All of them are guaranteed to make 6 figures playing in Europe if their NBA dreams don't pan out.

Unless they get injured in which case they make 0.

It’s not difficult to get a 7-figure loss-of-value insurance policy at this level of talent.

Let's say every one of these players is in the top 100 high school prospects (which I doubt). Less than 1/3 of them will even make it to the NBA, let alone make big money there (source https://pudding.cool/2019/03/hype/). Why would anyone insure them?

I don’t follow those assumptions.

There are only 36 roster spots currently in the Overtime Elite league the article references. They are almost certainly all Top 50/100 prospects who can leverage recruitment from the likes of Duke, Kansas and Kentucky to get a call from Overtime.

The Ignite team in NBA G League is more exclusive with the latest player signing a 2-year $1M deal.

AFAIK only one of 4 HS players to-date from the Ignite team went undrafted after playing.

Nonetheless odds of being drafted should affect premium and payout, not decision to insure. People get all kinds of novel stuff insured all the time.

Truly elite level basketball players are likely smart and hard working. Why wouldn’t they find a job easily?

Because jobs look more for directly relevant formal education and work experience than being smart and hard working.

Depends on the definition of "job". There's more to gainful employment than office work or trades like plumbing. One doesn't need directly relevant formal education to, say, rehab and flip houses. There are all manner of businesses that can be started and run successfully with a bit of intelligence and hard work.

> whose only skill is basketball

Condescending. I'm sure playing basketball at a high level requires an extraordinary level of diverse talents that are transferable.

> I'm sure playing basketball at a high level requires an extraordinary level of diverse talents that are transferable.

Such as?

Physical training, nutrition, media, coaching, mentoring, teaching, tactics, strategy, analysis... they'll be exposed to all these things at the highest level and will be practising many of them themselves.

They'll also be working a very high level of discipline and dedication, meeting critical deadlines and delivering results under massive pressure.

Communication, collaboration, strategy and analysis, perseverance, leadership.

Not to mention real world introductory experience with: nutrition, kinesiology, coaching, mental health and wellness, physiology, PR/media, statistics..

> Communication, collaboration, strategy and analysis, perseverance, leadership.

I'm deeply sceptical that these translate in any useful way off court.

It sounds similar to the equally unfounded belief that playing chess makes kids smarter.

I suppose they could always go back to school, or do their final years at an adult learning centre?

Life doesn't have to end because you dropped out of highschool, especially if you now have the finances to support your future choices.

According to website, players receive traditional HS coursework with supplemental courses related to managing life as a professional athlete. They also receive college tuition stipend up to $100K if their career does not pan out (in addition to other perks).

I wouldn’t characterize these players as “teen dropouts”. To me it seems like a blue chip program that doesn’t pretend like college academics is the main thing, and accordingly provides more benefits.

https://www.overtimeelite.com/facts

If they get cash up front the time value of money and compounding interest will set them up for a lifetime of higher wage earnings than college -- assuming they don't blow all of it immediately.

They blow it all immediately.

It would be better to set up a fund that they can’t touch for 30 years with a small wage on the side but that would be pointless because there would be nothing stopping them from taking out early loans against the fund.

Ah yes. The losers of the ycombinator lottery. Who have to give up their dreams…and schlep over to FAANG to make a paltry $300k/yr for doing largely nothing and with zero risk. Tragic.

Sounds exactly like the plight of the inner city kid trying to escape poverty with hoop dreams.

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