To be fair, the majority of professional sports contracts include items that keep the athlete on payroll while injured or otherwise unable to play, and teams will often invest significant resources waiting for a player to return to health (or even actively assisting the athlete in their recovery journey).

I'm not saying these contracts are "for life", but there are plenty of athletes who either a) get injured and are unable to play or b) take a significant period of time to deliver on their initial promise. Nature might be cruel, but sports teams are often quite fair & accommodating...