Reply With Quote
selfish
Kobe, not LeBron, among NBA’s highest paid
By Kurt Badenhausen, Forbes.com
The formation of the Miami Heat super team has been the dominate NBA storyline for the past four months as fans weighed the merits of the game’s best players joining forces to win a le. Two-time MVP LeBron James took the most criticism as even Dan Gilbert, the owner of his former team, called James selfish among other names in his infamous letter to fans.
James might be guilty of a few things in his move to Miami, but being selfish isn’t one of them. James and new teammates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all left money on the table this summer when they signed with the Heat thanks to the league’s salary cap. James and Bosh will make $14.5 million apiece in salary this season, while Dwyane Wade’s deal is worth $14 million. None of them are among the 20 top-paid players in the game.
The NBA’s highest-paid player is guard Kobe Bryant, who last season led the Los Angeles Lakers to its fifth le since he entered the league in 1996. This season he is the NBA’s highest-paid player for the first time in his career with a salary of $24.8 million.
Bryant inherits the le from Tracy McGrady who last season still reaped the benefits of a $63 million, three-year contract extension he signed in 2004 before injuries forced him to miss 60 percent of his team’s games the past two years. Kevin Garnett held bragging rights as the NBA’s top earner in the three seasons before McGrady.
Bryant signed a three-year, $83.5 million extension in April with the Lakers that will make him the highest-paid player through the 2013-14 season in which he is set to earn $30.5 million. He will be the first NBA player to make more than $30 million since Michael Jordan during the 1997-98 season. The NBA is looking to enact a salary rollback as part of its next collective bargaining agreement with the players, which would knock Bryant under $30 million if successful. Bryant remains the only NBA player with a no-trade clause in his contract.
NBA owners are bracing for a battle with players over their collective bargaining agreement, which expires after this season, and a lockout is a strong possibility. Owners lament about losses that reached $380 million last year according to the NBA and want to cut salaries by $800 million, or 35 percent. Yet it is the owners who are guilty of handing out dozens of rich contracts to players where the production does not match the pay.
The NBA’s best players are not its highest-paid. Each year there are 10 players selected to the All-NBA first and second teams. Out of those 10 players chosen last year, Kobe Bryant is the only player that is also among the game’s 10 highest-paid this season.
Bryant deserves his role as the highest-paid player with his championship pedigree and individual accolades that include selections for: All-Star games (12 times), All-NBA teams (eight times), All-NBA defensive teams (eight times) and All-Star MVP (three times). Some of the other highest-paid players are head-scratchers though.
Take the second highest-paid player in the game: Orlando Magic forward Rashard Lewis. Lewis signed a $118 million, six-year deal in 2007 that pays him $20.5 million this season. Lewis scored 14 points a game last year and averaged 4.5 rebounds. ESPN’s John Hollinger devised a player efficiency rating, which had Lewis ranked 48th out of 71 power forwards last season. Lewis has no right being in the league’s financial elite. He deserves closer to the NBA average salary of $5 million which would mean a 75 percent pay cut.
The No.3 and No. 4 highest-paid are veterans Garnett and Tim Duncan who will earn $18.8 million and $18.7 million respectively this season. The two are among the best power forwards to ever play the game (Duncan is arguably the best) and have earned 25 All-Star nods between them. They are still productive players (Hollinger ranked Duncan fifth and Garnett 30th among all players last season in his ratings). Yet both are on the back-ends of their career and their teams play them only 30 minutes a game to keep them fresh for the playoffs.
No. 5 Michael Redd ($18.3 million) and No. 9 Yao Ming ($17.7 million) played 12 games between them last year as both were hit with injuries. No. 8 Gilbert Arenas has played in only 19 percent of Washington Wizards games the past three years thanks to various injuries and a half-season suspension for bringing guns into the locker room last December. Other high-priced players like No. 6 Andrei Kirilenko and No. 10 Zach Randolph have not lived up to their lofty contracts.
LeBron James might not be among the NBA’s top-paid on the court, but James and Bryant are in a class by themselves when you factor in endorsement incomes. James will earn more than $40 million in salary and endorsements thanks to his deals with Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nike, State Farm and Upper Deck. Bryant’s total take should hit $50 million when you factor in endorsements. No other NBA player will earn more than $30 million from salary and sponsors.
The top five:
1. Kobe Bryant: Slideshow
2. Rashard Lewis: Slideshow
3. Kevin Garnett: Slideshow
4. Tim Duncan: Slideshow
5. Michael Redd: Slideshow
• See more players
In Pictures: The NBA’s 10 highest-paid players
selfish
How Rashard Lewis is the 2nd highest paid player in the NBA never ceases to amaze me...
Another benefit of playing for the best owner in sports..
Lebron has to take a paycut so that Miami can afford to build a contender, while Kobe demands even more $ than anybody imagined, and the Lakers are still able to build a contender..
Ohh, playing for the Lakers franchise, what a joy it must be..
Lebron has to take a paycut so that Miami can afford to build a contender, while Kobe demands even more $ than anybody imagined, and the Lakers are still able to build a contender..
Ohh, playing for the Lakers franchise, what a joy it must be..
tbh, what LeBron did (take a paycut to go to Miami to lead them) was an amazing thing...it shows that above all, he wants to win no matter what...that's truly selfless, and a reason why I respect the man so much.
lol uninformed
Lebron has to take a paycut so that Miami can afford to build a contender, while Kobe demands even more $ than anybody imagined, and the Lakers are still able to build a contender..
Ohh, playing for the Lakers franchise, what a joy it must be..
lol not aware of no state income tax in FL
lol LBJ saving $1.1 million+ per year
http://www.citizeneconomists.com/blo...-lebron-james/
He did it for the kids as well.San Antonio Heat ftw!
I already knew all that..does that mean he couldn't have gotten more money out of the Heat?..no, he clearly took less than he could have received, which was reported everywhere..he took less money, so Miami could afford to sign some teammates, a move strictly based on winning..that's what I meant by paycut, obviously..
Kobe took as much money as he possibly could, which I applaud him for, but my point is simply that playing for the Lakers has more advantages than playing for any other team in pro sports, and it has obviously benefited his legacy..
2. Rashad Lewis
5. Micheal Redd
6. Andrei Kirilenko
8. Gilbert Arenas
9. Yao Ming
10 Zach Randloph
holy ing 90% of team managers don't know jack
Agreed. No other NBA franchise can really even come close.
lebron took a pay cut for the kids. it was written in the wall before he made his decision
No wonder Kobe is so contented these days.
tee, hee.
you people know you dont have to play for the team to claim residency in a state right, Derek Jeter plays for the yankees but he claims florida on his tax papers and pays no income tax.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
