Most NBAers do just fine on $93 per diem By Sekou Smith, The Indianapolis Star Los Angeles Lakers rookie Jannero Pargo could feed the entire University of Arkansas basketball team with the $93 per diem he receives on trips. "I promise you $93 would go a long, long way in Fayetteville (Ark.)," said alumnus Pargo. The NBA per diem put in place in the last collective bargaining agreement could have lasted him a month in college. "That would have been appetizers, meals and maybe even a little dessert for all the fellas," he said. "It would've been crazy." Assuming most players use the per diem for meals only, which is not usually the case, $93 would go quickly at most of the five-star hotels NBA teams call home when they're away from home. A cheeseburger dinner at the Regent Beverly Wilshire, where the Indiana Pacers stay when they play in Los Angeles, can cost as much as $52 — depending on garnishments and side orders. "It depends on how hungry you are and what you really feel like spending," said Golden State center Adonal Foyle, a seven-year veteran who said he operates on a tight budget on trips. "There are times when you've got to eat. There are also times that you can take advantage of meals on the plane and stuff like that and then wing it if you have to." Usually doled out on the plane at the beginning of trips — in sealed and marked envelopes — many players said they don't even keep track of the per diem money. "It's just cash I throw in my pocket with other cash and it gets spent somewhere along the way," Pacers forward Al Harrington said. "I don't really pay attention to it, especially when it's a one-game trip. Maybe on a longer trip I will. "I can't say that I go into a restaurant and pull out my per diem money in my little envelope and use it to eat. I don't go in saying, 'OK, I can only spend $35 on this meal or that meal.' I mean that's crazy." Try telling that to league veterans, who've seen the per diem money rise from $32 in 1980. "You can't take any of it for granted," said Golden State forward Chris Mills, who owns several businesses. "Every penny counts, including that per diem money." Most observers believed decadence ruled in the NBA during the glory days of the 1980s and 1990s. Pacers assistant coach Mark Aguirre says that wasn't always the case, particularly when it came to a man's money. "I had a habit of putting that (per diem) money in a drawer," Aguirre said. "I'd just stash it away and then I'd budget my money for the road and basically use my (credit) cards for everything I needed. That way, at the end of the year I knew exactly what my expenditures were on the road." Pacers coach Isiah Thomas remembers how he spent his per diem when he broke into the league. "I only ate at three places," he said. "McDonald's, Howard Johnson's and this place called The Clock. I'd always get a hot fudge sundae at Howard Johnson's and the patty melt at The Clock. But we stayed at motor lodges back then, not the places we stay now." Former Pacer Mark Pope put the money to another use. He rented an apartment near the Indiana Basketball Academy, where the Pacers practiced. Paying roughly $450 per month, Pope tried to save enough from his per diem to cover his rent. He succeeded a lot of months. On the road, he'd eat enough food on the plane to cover one meal and then eat cheaply the rest of the time. "That's one way of pinching pennies," Portland backup forward Zach Randolph said. "Honestly, as much as I eat, I have to spend more than my per diem on food most of the time. And at some of the hotels we stay in, if you're eating room service, you can barely get a slice of pizza for under $30."
hmmm...$20 per lap dance....That's 4 lap dances with enough left over for the steak buffet! Yeah, I could live on $93
Is that really a lot? Don't get me wrong, when I'm eating on my own budget, I'm pretty cheap. BUT, I travel a lot and late hours often mean a room service dinner. If I get a salad a chicken sandwich and a glass of juice at a normal Marriott property, that's easily $40-45. And that's just dinner for a 165 lb guy whose job consists primarily of sitting in meetings all day. I'm not concerned if a 230+ lb guy who runs for a living eats much much more.
My buddy who plays for the Red Sox get $100 per day. And the money does go fast if you're forced to eat hotel room service. I charged up $55 last week for a soup, cheeseburger and FREEDOM fries, and a beer at the Westin in San Francisco. And my measly per diem was only $42.
Do these fancy-schmancy hotel suites have microwave ovens? If so, just go to a nearby store and load up on cheap frozen dinners. After several years, they could save that per diem and use it on a down payment for a Hummer! (the car you naughty freaks!)
$93 a day... Season is about 6 months if you don't make the playoffs. That's about 180 days. 180 days multiply by $93.00. That's $16,740 a season in food money. I could eat a lot better if I had an extra $16,740 a year. Of course the average NBA salary is $2.2 million...so an extra $16,740 isn't that much more.
Me thinks the same thing, although I went to this place right outside Scottsdale, err...heard about this place the dances were $5...That's right, $5... Now it wasn't Treasures and every lady had 5 tattoos, but hell, me thinks thats about 16 lap dances...
This is for food on the road. I don't pay for my dinners on the road, I wouldn't expect them to. (I can't believe I'm defending the pay of an athlete...)
are these meals y'all are buying at these hotels coated in freakin 24 karat gold! i mean, whenever our family has gone on vacation, we're not exactly staying at the Ritz Carlton but we're not staying at Motel 6 either and i've never seen room service prices even close to that insane. i mean they're expensive to be sure but i'm remembering like a max of 50-75% more than you would pay in the normal world.
I've stayed in some pretty schnazzy hotels, and haven't seen many prices like that. You can usually get a decently-sized pizza or something like that for under $15 at all Westins, Hiltons, Marriotts, and all Vegas hotels.
One thing to keep in mind is that basketball players are essentially paying not just for the food, but the ability to eat in privacy as well. Alot of basketball players would get mobbed if they tried going to eat at your average restaurant, and I imagine that would be pretty irritating after awhile. So the extra $$ you pay for room service keeps the crowds away. Whether or not it's worth that much is debatable.
