3 NBA players who bet on themselves and lost millions

In recent years, the NBA’s salary cap has exploded, causing player contracts to go up with them. That’s made a lot of players a lot of money, and with the cap continuing to climb, it’s led to several players turning down big, life-changing contracts, thinking that there’d be more money available.

That’s worked more often than not, but there have been several players who thought they were going to secure a massive payday only to blow their chance and end up signing for the minimum. Keep that in mind as we take a look at three players who bet on themselves and squandered away millions.

NBA Player #1: Dennis Schroder

Talk about an eventful couple of seasons for Dennis Schroder. He was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he played well, averaging 15.4 points and 5.8 assists, leading to a big 4-year, $84 million offer from the team. Surprisingly, however, he turned the Laker’s offer down to try and use free agency as a way to gain leverage, hoping to get them to offer him a max contract.

The Lakers didn’t, of course, and they instead traded for Russell Westbrook. Schroder then watched as the free agency money dried up and was forced to sign a one-year, $5.9 million deal with the Boston Celtics. By not taking the bird in hand, he cost himself a staggering $78 million, or $75.5 million if you deduct the minimum contract he just signed to return to the Lakers.

Barring something unexpected, like signing a huge two-year deal after next season, he’s never going to get most of that money back. Fortunately, he looks to have the right attitude about what happened.

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