With NBA contracts pulling in ridiculously high numbers, Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster jokes about wishing to be a basketball player.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver, JuJu Smith-Schuster, has been one of the youngest wide receivers to break out in the past decade. His 169 catches and 2,343 yards in his first two seasons is one of the best marks in recent memory.
JuJu has two years remaining on his rookie deal that is going to bring in $1.2M on average over the next two seasons. Though the young Steelers receiver is going to become one of the highest paid receivers in the league in due time, it didn’t stop him from sharing a bit of his jealousy on Twitter:
About to have an important phone call with my mom, need some explanations about why she didn’t put me in basketball, these contracts are CRAZY!!! 🤯🤯🤯
— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) July 1, 2019
The working class citizen in us wants him to be content with his contract until he inevitably gets his new deal. At the same time, I can see JuJu’s frustration with some NBA players pulling in over $40M a season.
Even a lot of low-end NBA players are making more than some NFL stars. However, these players need to live by the motto that ‘life isn’t fair.’ It’s not fair that the people who defend our country get paid significantly less than people who play sports, but that is the way it works.
While an NBA roster consists of just 15 players, NFL players need to remember that their ownership is forking up money for 53 players and a much larger coaching staff.
It’s hard to interpret exactly what JuJu meant by his tweet, or how serious he was. Either way, JuJu Smith-Schuster and other NFL players need to let the noise of these NBA contracts just roll off their backs.
Football players just aren’t ever going to get paid like NBA players. That’s just the way it is. It’s time for players to deal with it and move on.