All three chased the money.
But Hali ended his college career as a Cyclone. There's a huge difference. And why I will hope Rocco and Milan are forced to see what they had. Even if they have millions in the bank lol.
Milan Momcilovic withdraws from the 2026 NBA Draft
- Thread starter JakeBrend
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But Hali ended his college career as a Cyclone. There's a huge difference. And why I will hope Rocco and Milan are forced to see what they had. Even if they have millions in the bank lol.
Agree, and to add: he’s certainly not going to be a 1st scoring option in the NBA, those scouts are smart enough to recognize that
I have heard we were willing and able to go pretty high for Milan. Not $7M high, but the $3M you have down was feasible. Maybe even a little higher than that. Again, not $7M, but a decent chunk of change.
The big hang up was the timing, I think. We needed to know before he was ready. I am fairly confident TJ had a plan for both scenarios - with or without Milan - but both needed to be done quickly.
Had we waited, there is a very high likelihood we would not have been able to secure the transfer class we did, this ballooning NiL effect would have still happened, and Milan would have been in a much tougher situation than he is now (if you can believe that).
Look…Milan wants to play in the NBA. He also wants assurances. As we all know, there are no “sure things” in the NBA. The closest you’re going to get to that, as a player, is 1st round, guaranteed money.
Nobody knew exactly where he stood with the NBA when the portal opened. We knew what we could offer, but needed him to accept or move on.
He chose the latter. I believe he chose the latter, initially, because of his desire to play in the NBA. His NiL market value was not what is was today when he entered the portal, and he entered the portal to hedge the NBA bet. It appears that hedge is going to work out for him. It sucks for Iowa State fans, but he’s going to make out very well.
I really do not think he was expecting to be going back to school next year. The feedback he’s received to date, along with the exponential increase in his market value led to him withdrawing from the draft and not being in our plans anymore.
There is nothing malicious here, in my opinion. The timing of the whole process sucks balls.
Unless the money is at Iowa State, I'm so mad when players chase the money.
I'd argue there is very little difference in today's climate. In fact, MM gave us an extra year and a half.
And tell me again how you'd trade $7M for a banner in the rafters....
You've never changed jobs for a raise?
This idea that college sports and an actual job are the same thing is lazy. A job isn't going to pay you 5 mil to play a game for six months and not have in the contract that you can't leave right after.
Hali was and is an elite athlete and representative of Iowa State. He wanted to come back for his junior year but it just made no sense at all for him to do it. I don’t understand the comparison.
The NBA says he not in the top 60 college players who are ready to play in the NBA next season. Doesn't mean he isn't the 2nd best player currently unattached to a MBB team and available to play college basketball next season.
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By all indications Milan wanted to come back to ISU as well. I got the feeling he wanted to go the NBA unless his draft prospects were not great then he would go back to collage. ISU couldn't wait on that timing due to roster construction so both sides decided it was okay if NBA draft didn't happen they would be parting ways. I mean Milan was tweeting out the Cyclone Emoji when Davis committed.
Could he come back to ISU at a discount if he really wanted to come back? Sure, but if its true that it's 3M vs. 7M (Is it even 3M now that we've added all the other transfers?) Then that is 4 million reasons for him to leave. Like others said we'd all leave for that kind of pay increase.
It feels different then Audi and Rocco (And other members of the football team)
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Agreed. I wish the best for him as a human but if he doesn’t finish his career a cyclone I will stop pulling for him. If he goes elsewhere the nba won’t recognize him as a cyclone so why should we have to?
I’m pretty confident in saying whatever we had banked for him to come back is now money spent. It is what it is.
This will maybe be the best thread ever if he comes back to ISU.
Don't have to...but we know him...and we saw him give 3 years of his life to entertain us. Seems like a good person...have never heard anything bad about him at all! Some of this is on the calendar...some on TJ needing to have a plan and kick it into gear quickly...and some of this is on Milan's ambitions. No one has to care/cheer for him...personally, I hope he reaches his dreams...why wouldn't I? The guy has never done anything to hurt me or anyone I know.
If Milan wanted to come back to Iowa State he’d be at Iowa State. He told TJ prior to the tournament it was Iowa State or the NBA and then he went silent and his camp told TJ they were going to shop him around.
No hard feelings from either side but Haliburton openly said he wish he had to spend 3 years in college like they do in the NFL so he could come back. Milan was going to get $3 mil from us but he wanted to explore the NBA and other colleges. Totally his choice and fair but a horrible comparison in my opinion.
College sports is a job now. That’s the reality.
I could quit my job and leave to a competitor right now. With no repercussions. Just like Milan.
I think this is pretty well stated, but everyone needs to also keep in mind that when he decided to enter the portal, Iowa State was likely a little light of what the market was for him, but not 100%+ light.
If the numbers out there are real (and, again, I think they are), his market value exploded over the course of just a couple of weeks. We never had a chance and/or not as desperate as some other programs. I know TJ was prepared.
That's probably the best way to look at it, logically.
Emotionally, though, no one has a rooting interest in H&R Block and returning CPA Brian Anderson.
Would you expect to be invited to the Christmas party at your old job? There’s a difference between understanding his reasoning and cheering for the guy at his next role. No one is saying he should have come back for less money. We’re just not going to cheer for him at his next stop. And when discussing ISU greats, guys that ‘retired’ here mean more than the ones that didn’t.
