Luther Campbell Thinks David West Is a Crazy Person Who Needs a Psychologist Because He Wants to Win an NBA Title

Luther Campbell, yes THAT Luther Campbell, for some reason gets the opportunity to write for the "Miami New Times." I've never heard of this paper, and I have covered Luther here a couple of times before, but he seems like he covers a mix of sports and social issues in his writing. One sports issue that Luther felt like tackling was that of David West opting-out of his contract with the Pacers in order to take a lot less money and join the Spurs. West wants to win an NBA title. That's fairly clear. West isn't the first athlete to take less money to chase a championship, but Luther thinks he needs a psychologist for making this decision. Nevermind a few Heat players took less money than they could make on the free agent market to join the LeBron/Bosh/Wade chase for titles (including some of those three players taking small pay cuts to team up). That doesn't really seem to faze Luther Campbell because these players didn't pass up as much money as David West did. Somehow, Campbell also blames Gregg Popovich for West choosing the Spurs and seems to think Popovich should have acted in West's best interests and refused to sign West. It's all confusing. I think maybe Luther Campbell needs the psychologist.

Veteran NBA forward David West has lost his mind.

And it's Luther Campbell's job to help West get his mind back.

The 34-year-old former All-Star just pulled off the craziest free agent move in sports history by taking a gargantuan pay cut to  play for the San Antonio Spurs. 

David West has earned $87 million in his career so far. I know everything is about money, but it's not entirely crazy for West to take a pay cut in order to try and win a championship. Plus, there are worse things than being coached by Gregg Popovich. It would have been crazy if West were still in the prime of his career and decided to take a huge pay cut while signing a long-term contract in order to win a title. West is 34 years old and wants to win a title. He's earned $87 million in his career. Crazy, this is not. Yearning to win a title after he has made his millions? Yes.

West opted out of the last year of his contract with the Indiana Pacers, leaving $12.2 million on the table. Believing the Spurs give him the best chance to win the NBA title that has eluded him for 12 years, West signed with San Antonio for the veteran’s minimum of $1.5 million.  

West is only making $1.5 million this year. That's it! How will he afford to feed his family on that type of money, assuming he has blown every other dime he has made in his NBA career of course? I don't know David West's finances, but I'm assuming a guy who chooses to forgo more money to win a title is probably pretty good with managing his money as well and isn't poor. 

“At this point in my career, I just want to win,” West told Indianapolis TV station WTHR.

Absolutely insane. 

Most of the reaction from the sports media has been positive, praising West for putting competition above compensation. 

This praise comes from the fact that West has earned his money already. He wants a ring. I don't know if I would take less money to win a title, but I also haven't come as close as West has to making the NBA Finals without actually making it. 

He’s really being a fool.

If only West was a grown-ass man who was capable of making his own decisions and didn't need ex-rappers to question his sanity. 

This is not the same as Ray Allen, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade taking pay cuts to win a title together. Sure, they took reductions, but nothing out of this world like West. 

West took a $12 million pay cut according to Luther Campbell. It doesn't appear Campbell is too good with the math. The Pacers were offering $12 million and West took $1.4-1.5 million to play for the Spurs. He took a $10.5 million pay cut to play for the Spurs. Ray Allen took a $7 million pay cut to play for the Heat. Not that I expect Luther to spend his precious time doing research, but Ray Allen took a large pay cut to play for the Heat, so what West did was very close to being the same as what Allen did. I know Luther Campbell would prefer not to deal with reality, but what West did is like what Allen did.

The NBA Player’s Association needs to step in and investigate how the Spurs pulled off the steal of the free-agency period. 

Actually, I think I could do some investigation into this topic to see what malfeasance has been going on. (Bengoodfella takes five seconds to copy and paste a comment from David West)

Oh, now I see how the Spurs pulled this off. Here is the evidence on how the Spurs did this. I warn you, it is salacious. Here we go...

“At this point in my career, I just want to win,” West told Indianapolis TV station WTHR.

OH MY GOD, SAY IT'S NOT TRUE! The Spurs pulled this off by convincing David West he wanted to win an NBA title. I'm sure Adam Silver wouldn't have the balls to investigate the Spurs for this, but he should. Silver will just protect the favored members of the NBA fraternity like Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan, but the Spurs should be punished harshly for using mind control to convince West he wants to win an NBA title.

San Antonio’s head coach Gregg Popovich, a former player who knows how grueling an NBA season can be, should be ashamed of himself for allowing West to make such a ridiculous decision.

How dare Popovich allow a grown man who is also a millionaire make a decision for himself! It's intriguing to me how Luther Campbell has somehow managed to turn a decision made by an NBA player into the coach of an NBA team manipulating that player. West states why he took less money, yet that's not good enough for Campbell. Why would Popovich be ashamed of himself for putting together the best team he is able to? He's supposed to apologize for being a great head coach and the result being that veteran players want to play for him? 

He took advantage of West’s emotions.

Yes, Popovich took advantage of West's emotions by convincing him that he wanted to win an NBA title and accept less money to do so. It sounds like Popovich and the Spurs didn't have to do much except make the contract offer. The idea the Spurs took advantage of West is just hilarious to me. NBA players are capable of making their own decisions about where they want to play the sport of basketball and it's not like West will play for free. He's still getting paid for his services.

After taxes, West will probably clear around $600,000. And he still has to pay for the cost of living in two places.

Well, I don't believe there are any state taxes in Texas, so that helps.

It’s not like he’s just going to sell his house in Indiana in one day.

Luther Campbell is simply concerned about the real estate market in Indiana. How can West get the money he put into the home back? David West needs a psychologist because he expects to sell his house in this Indiana real estate market!

Also, as I detailed earlier, David West has made $87 million in his career. Who the hell says he is moving away from Indiana? Why would he have to move to play in San Antonio? Couldn't he just rent an apartment during the season? Somehow Campbell's argument for West being crazy is starting to lean more towards Campbell being the one who needs a psychologist. Why does it matter if West can sell his house? 

Has anyone ever seen an NFL, NBA, or MLB owner cut into their profits to give breaks to poor people who can’t afford to attend games? No.

Yes, but David West could not have joined the Spurs if he had not taken a pay cut. This wasn't a move driven by the Spurs ownership wanting David West at whatever cost, but a move driven by David West to take a pay cut. The Spurs don't really get a break by having David West take the veteran minimum because they weren't going to be able to spend the $12 million it would take to sign West at market value. So this isn't like owners cutting into profits to give a break to poor people who can't attend games, because the Spurs weren't spending money on West if he didn't sign for close the veteran minimum.

West needs a psychological evaluation. When an athlete kisses $11 million good-bye without thinking about his future is a prime example of why he will end up broke.

Man, that's a bit harsh. So Luther Campbell is arguing (relatively incoherently by the way) that David West, who has earned $87 million in his career, is going to go broke because he's "only" playing for $1.5 million this season. Other than evidence he needs a psychological evaluation, couldn't this be proof that West has thought about his future and has saved up enough money to where he CAN go play for the Spurs for $1.5 million? Maybe this isn't a sign he will go broke, but a sign he isn't going to go broke. 

When West retires, he is not going to find another job that pays hims more than ten million dollars a year. 

Unlike all of those other athletes who retire and immediately find jobs that pay them as much as they earned during their playing career? What planet does Luther Campbell live on? What, Bimbo Coles retires and then finds a job that pays him $2.2 million per year? This is something Campbell really thinks happens?

I don't know how Campbell has earned the opportunity to write anything down in a newspaper and be taken seriously, but "Player takes pay cut to win a title" isn't even close to being correlated to "Player goes broke because he spends too much money."

That’s when he will regret it.

Maybe he can pawn his championship ring for cash at that point.