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Mitch McConnell once told John Calipari he was creating more millionaires than a Wall Street firm.
New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis has become the latest millionaire Calipari coached in college before departing for the NBA. When free agency opened Wednesday morning at 12:00 a.m., Davis agreed to a five-year max extension with the Pelicans, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowki reports. His reported total salary will likely be for around $145 million.
Davis is coming off his third NBA season in which he established himself as a superstar. In the New Orleans' playoff series with eventual champion Golden State, Davis became the first player in 40 years to average more than 30 points and 10 rebounds a game in his first playoff series.
Now Davis becomes the fourth former Calipari-coached player to receive a max extension, and all four have come since 2011. Derrick Rose became the first Calipari-coached player to sign a max contract after the two helped lead Memphis to the 2008 NCAA Final Four.
Two years later, John Wall signed a max contract with the Washington Wizards, followed by DeMarcus Cousins getting a max deal fro the Sacramento Kings.
No coach in the history of basketball has coached four players in college who went on to sign max contracts in the NBA.
That's not even accounting for Marcus Camby from Cal's days at UMass. Camby earned over $123 million in his 19 NBA seasons after being drafted second overall by the Toronto Raptors in 1996.
Former Kentucky Wildcats Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight also recently signed extensions for $70 million over five years.
In the last 24 months, 5 former UK players (Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe, Knight and Davis) have signed contract extensions totaling $427 million.
— T.J. Beisner (@Beisner_cn2) July 1, 2015
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