In an era where professional athletes frequently take to podcasts and social media to explain how their eye-popping contracts get chopped in half by Uncle Sam, Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma is calling time-out on the pity party.

The 30-year-old NBA champion took to X to share a reality check to his peers, arguing that the real culprit behind athletes going broke isn’t the tax system, it’s their own spending habits.

“Ngl it’s exhausting hearing athletes break down how their millions “aren’t really millions” after taxes and fees,” Kuzma wrote. “40M after taxes is still 40M. The real issue isn’t the system, it’s lifestyle creep. Nobody told you to live like a king, buy 5 cars, or move with a 10‑person entourage. Modest is allowed.”

Ngl it’s exhausting hearing athletes break down how their millions “aren’t really millions” after taxes and fees. 40M after taxes is still 40M.
The real issue isn’t the system, it’s lifestyle creep. Nobody told you to live like a king, buy 5 cars, or move with a 10‑person…

— kuz (@kylekuzma) July 15, 2026

It was a breath of fresh air to hear from Kuzma, as many fans have grown tired of watching multi-millionaires complain about the same tax brackets that everyday citizens navigate on a fraction of the income.

Over the last few years, a growing number of NFL, NBA, and MLB stars have made a habit of breaking down their paychecks for the public. Using whiteboards on YouTube or TikTok, players often detail the rapid erosion of a seemingly massive salary: 37% in federal taxes, state taxes, the notorious “jock tax” for playing in different cities, 3% to 4% in agent fees, 10% in escrow, and 1% in union dues.

High-profile figures have frequently made headlines by suggesting that a massive contract doesn’t stretch as far as people think, or that living off a standard athletic salary and endorsement package is a logistical struggle.

Most notably, NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. sparked a national debate during an appearance on The Pivot Podcast when he argued that earning a $100 million contract isn’t enough to secure generational wealth.

“I try to explain this to people. When you give somebody a five-year, $100 million contract, what is it really?” Beckham shared. “It’s five years for $60 million. If you do the math, it’s $12 million a year that you have to spend, use, save, invest, flaunt. I’m just being real, I’m gonna buy a car. Give my mom a house. Everything costs money… If you are spending $4 million a year, that’s really $40 million [after five years]… It’s nearly impossible to build generational wealth with that money.”

But as Kuzma pointed out, even if a $40 million contract is taxed down to $20 million, or Beckham’s $100 million deal yields a net $60 million, those net figures still represent astronomical, generational wealth compared to the average earner.

To put it in perspective, the median household income in the United States sits around $62,000. For an average American, earning $20 million would require more than three centuries of full-time work, and earning $60 million would take nearly a millennium.

Kuzma’s critique focuses heavily on “lifestyle creep”, the financial phenomenon where an individual’s discretionary spending increases in direct proportion to their rising income.

In professional sports, this creep is often supercharged by peer pressure, the desire to project an image of extreme luxury on Instagram, and the pressure of carrying a massive social circle. Many young athletes enter the league and immediately take on massive liabilities: renting estates in multiple cities, purchasing fleets of luxury vehicles, and bankrolling multi-person entourages for daily travel and security.

When those recurring expenses are paired with a career that statistically lasts less than five years, the financial math quickly collapses. According to estimates, a staggering number of professional athletes face severe financial distress or bankruptcy within just a few years of retirement.

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