Are you sitting down? Good as we have a very special basketball salary review that will astound and amaze even the heaviest of salaried hitters out there.
The average salary for a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association in 2010 is $3.2 million per year. To say that these wonderful athletes are worth every penny they command is an understatement.
These are some of the greatest athletes in the entire world and any of them, even the ones that do not start, could land positions on most of the other professional sports out there today. These basketball players and the salaries that they garner are both astounding and breath-taking.
Lots of Baskets and Lots of Dollars
National Basketball Association players can earn millions of dollars annually. A starting rookie player in the NBA makes about $ 850,000 per year, while a highly-paid and highly-skilled NBA player making upwards of $ 8 million per year. While most NBA players are paid the above salaries you must also factor in which team they are playing for and for how long the contract is set up to be.
The skill-level alone is a prime determining factor when the artful negotiation from the player’s agent meets the ownership of the team. In the end these NBA players are not complaining that is until they become eligible for the free agency market and then all bets are off!
Collective Bargaining Agreement
There is a method for factoring in the salaries of professional basketball players in the NBA referred to as the collective bargaining agreement. This tool is used to moderate and contain the amount of money that can legally be paid to a single NBA player.
57% of Basketball Related Income
Under the current NBA collective bargaining agreement the players are guaranteed to receive salaries equal to at least 57% of basketball related income. The NBA is generating approximately $4 billion of revenue so something like $2.3 billion is paid directly to the National Basketball Association players and that’s not a bad deal at all!
The NBA Salary Cap is the maximum limit to the total amount of money that National Basketball Association teams are allowed and do pay to their players. While this seems simple enough in theory, the salary cap is very complex.
Top Salaries that are Currently Being Paid
Please have a look at some of the top salaries that are currently being paid out by some of the teams of the National Basketball Association. These are contracts and are spread out over a determined amount of time. You do not want to know how much a 10 year contract for say LeBron James cost the Cleveland cavaliers do you?
Top Point Guard Salaries:
1. Jason Kidd, Dallas, $21.37million.
2. Stephen Marbury, N.Y. Knicks, $20.8million,
3. Mike Bobby, Atlanta, $14.98million,
4. Gilbert Arenas, Washington, $14.65million.
5. Steve Nash, Phoenix, $12.25million.
Top Shooting Guard Salaries:
1. Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers, $21.26million.
2. Allen Iverson, Detroit, $20.84million.
3. Tracy McGrady, $20.37million.
4. Ray Allen, Boston, $18.39million.
5. Joe Johnson, Atlanta, $14.23million.
Small Forward Salaries:
1. Paul Pierce, Boston, $18.07million.
2. Shawn Marion, Miami, $17.81million.
3. Andrei Kirilenko, Utah, $15.1million.
4. LeBron James, Cleveland, $14.41million.
5. Carmelo Anthony, Denver, $14.41million
Top Power Forward Salaries:
1. Kevin Garnett, Boston, $24.75million.
2. Tim Duncan, San Antonio, $20.6million.
3. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas, $18.08million.
4. Pau Gasol, L.A. Lakers, $15.11million.
5. Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix, $15.07million.
Top Center Salaries:
1. Jermaine O’Neal, Toronto, $21.37million.
2. Shaquille O’Neal, Phoenix, $21million.
3. Yao Ming, Houston, $15.07million.
4. Rasheed Wallace, $13.93million.
5. Dwight Howard, Orlando, $13.76million.
Top 8 2008-09 NBA TEAM SALARIES
Dallas Mavericks: $97,496,177
Cleveland Cavaliers: $90,843,932
Boston Celtics: $90,096,624
Detroit Pistons: $87,461,049
Chicago Bulls: $79,519,753
Atlanta Hawks: $79,063,186
Denver Nuggets: $76,747,526
Charlotte Bobcats: $68,391,628
To summarize what it must feel like to be paid in excess of 8 million dollars a year requires a bit of brain wrapping. There, now that the average salary for an NBA player has been experienced it is time to work harder!
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