In 2015, NBA player Tristan Thompson signed a five-year, $82 million contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The price of Bitcoin was approximately $270 at that time. If he had chosen to receive the payment of this contract in the form of Bitcoin at that time, based on the current price of Bitcoin, this sum of money would now be worth approximately 31.75 billion US dollars.
Thompson said recently that with his current understanding of cryptocurrencies, he would definitely have fought for compensation in the form of Bitcoin at that time. Although his friends suggested that he buy Bitcoin at that time, he didn’t take action due to concerns about the volatility of Bitcoin’s price. He also admitted that he was not sure whether he could withstand the price fluctuations of Bitcoin over the past ten years. However, after he signed the contract, the price of Bitcoin never dropped below $270. And just nine months later, the price of Bitcoin more than doubled to approximately $577, which means that his $82 million could have turned into more than $175 million at that time.
Thompson is now deeply involved in the cryptocurrency field. He is the brand
ambassador of the crypto betting platform sportsbet. io and also leads the basketball data analysis project Tracey AI. He disclosed that he is actively promoting Bitcoin to NBA players, but explicitly opposes the issuance of celebrity meme coins. He believes that those tokens aimed at quick profits are like a dark cloud, and athletes should support the cryptocurrency ecosystem instead of using it for profit.
Furthermore, over the past few years, several American athletes have chosen to receive their salaries in full or in part in the form of Bitcoin. For instance, Odell Beckham, a player of the Los Angeles RAMS of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States, chose to receive a salary of 750,000 US dollars in Bitcoin in 2021. NBA stars Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala have also chosen to receive part of their salaries in the form of Bitcoin. Thompson said that he has been striving to make other NBA players understand Bitcoin and expressed his appreciation for his friend Beckham’s choice of a Bitcoin salary.
Although he missed out on the huge wealth brought by Bitcoin, Thompson said that his basketball career and income related to cryptocurrencies were sufficient, and he is now more concerned about the long-term value of blockchain technology.
Related topic:
