Josh Smith kicked off a whirlwind of controversy this week with his comments about the difficulty he will have providing for his family this year.
If you haven’t read about it as yet, Smith stated that:
“At the end of the day, you know, I do have a family,” he said. “So it is going to be a little harder on me this year. But I’m going to push through it, you know.”
You should know that the Detroit Pistons are going to be paying $5.4 million to Josh Smith not to play for them in the 2015-2016 season and he also recently signed with the Los Angeles Clippers for $1.5 million (the veterans minimum).
Despite taking home $6.9 million this year, Josh Smith has made it known that it is going to be difficult for him and his family on a reduced salary.
Because we know time are tough for millionaires out there, one enterprising individual, Christopher Burlew, started a Go Fund Me page so that we could all help out how we can, so that Smith and his family would not have to suffer, as $6.9 million can only go so far in today’s economy.
Burlew offered some insight into why he crafted the Go Fund Me page(Which seems to have been taken down):
I’m not here to talk about the NBA’s starvation wage of $1.5 million dollars, I’ll leave that to the politicians in Washington. Josh Smith also will recieve $5.4 million from his former team, the Detroit Pistons, under the stretch provision after being waived by the team just before Christmas 2014. This means Mr. Smith will only make $6.9 million this season. Needless to say I spent a sleepless night wondering what I could do to get Josh Smith back on his feet. I am only one man, there isn’t much I can do. All I can do is ask us average Americans to help flip the other $7.1 million to make wage comparable to the $14 million a year he made as a member of the Detroit Pistons. I would hate to see Josh Smith have an inconvenience made from only making $6.9 million. If a man can only afford one gold-plated toilet, then what is the meaning of life. Let’s start the hashtag: #SaveJoshSmith and help him through these dark times.
God Bless Josh Smith
Now the creator of the GoFundMe page not only made sense of Josh Smith’s perilous financial statement, but he also crafted a pretty good video that highlighted Smith’s need even more.