Money Monday: The 10% Nobody Explains Until It’s Already Gone

My first contract overseas, I was so happy to have a job I never asked a real question about the money beyond the number at the bottom of the page. Then the 10% came off the top, and nobody had ever explained to me how that worked.

The agent fee in overseas basketball is 10%. Most players know that part. Almost nobody knows the part that matters, which is that the same 10% can mean two completely different things depending on one line in your contract. If the club pays the commission on top of your salary, your number stays your number. If that fee comes out of your salary instead, then on a $100K deal you just handed back $10K you thought was yours. Same figure on the page, two very different realities, decided by a sentence most guys skim right past.

It gets messier when there is an agent at home and an agent in the country you are playing in. Sometimes they split a fee. Sometimes they each take one. I have watched players lose track of who was getting paid what until the season was over and the money was already gone.

A good agent earns that 10%. He chases your protections, chases your late payments, and answers the phone when you are stuck in a bad situation. One who got you a single offer and disappeared the moment you landed did not. You are allowed to know the difference, and you are allowed to ask before you sign instead of after.

So before your next deal, ask three questions. Who is getting paid. How much. Out of whose money. Get it in writing. That number at the bottom of the page is not your number until you know what comes off it first.

With OverseasX, you’ll never have to walk this journey alone.