They do that because they're not forced to earn degrees, because the NBA gives them what they need. If they didn't have that, they would graduate, and get normal jobs. They don't graduate because the NBA offers them the millions they wouldn't get if they took a job as a psychiatrist, or professor, or whatever they chose to do. If they finished their degrees, they would have the degree to get a good job, and would be just fine. Since they leave school early, they have nothing else to do, though some of them go back to school and finish their degrees. If you really think Tim Duncan, who got a degree in psychology with honors from one of the most prestigious universities in the country, would be flipping burgers if he wasn't playing basketball, you're an idiot.