I'd take Italy over the D-League any day of the week. A player like Mbakwe needs to be honest with himself. He's a very good player, but he's not an NBA player. At 25 y/o, with two bad knees, he needs to earn every penny he can, while he can. The D League offers a simpler path to the NBA (if it ever comes) but they earn peanuts (12-24k per year + $30 a day per diem). I think it's a safe bet he's going to make around 6 figures, plus per diem, furnished apartment, car and a set of round trip plane tickets (travel expenses) per year. Play hard, get better contracts and by the time he's 30 he should have several hundred grand socked away when he retires. Enough at least to buy a house and car outright back home when he's done. Once your house and cars are paid for, a person can live pretty well on the cheap the rest of their life.
