Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Waltdods, post: 2586860, member: 2932"] This seems wrong. It is surprisingly difficult to figure out exactly who has a maximum contract given the complexities of the NBA rules, but below are the 20 highest-paid players in the NBA: Of the 20, 16 played for playoff teams. Of the four that did not, one is retired (Bosh) and his team still made the playoffs, and one was hurt all year (Conley). Each of the top 2 seeds in two conferences have two guys on this list: Houston (Harden, Paul), Toronto (Lowry, DeRozen), GSW (Curry, Durant), Boston (Hayward, Horford). Of those, Durant at 16 is the lowest paid, meaning the top 4 teams, representing 1/8 of the league, have 1/2 of the 16 highest paid players. The three seed in the West? Portland, which also had two guys on the list. (East three-seed Philly has no one on the list right now, but obviously will soon enough, and certainly isn't going to complain when Simmons and Embiid are max guys). There are definitely some stinkers in here - Milsap, Griffin, Carmelo, Bosh. And there are a few who are probably somewhat overpaid. But having excellent, highly-paid players is what makes teams win. If anything, the max contract makes many of those guys more valuable than they would otherwise be by repressing their price. [B]1[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/curryst01.html']Stephen Curry[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/GSW.html']GSW[/URL] $34,682,550 $37,457,154 $40,231,758 $43,006,362 $45,780,966 Bird Rights $201,158,790 [B]2[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jamesle01.html']LeBron James[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/CLE.html']CLE[/URL] $33,285,709 $35,607,968 Early Bird $33,285,709 [B]3[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/millspa01.html']Paul Millsap[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/DEN.html']DEN[/URL] $31,269,231 $29,730,769 $30,500,000 Cap space $61,000,000 [B]4[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/haywago01.html']Gordon Hayward[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/BOS.html']BOS[/URL] $29,727,900 $31,214,295 $32,700,690 $34,187,085 Cap space $93,642,885 [B]5[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/griffbl01.html']Blake Griffin[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/DET.html']DET[/URL] $29,512,900 $31,873,932 $34,234,964 $36,595,996 $38,957,028 Bird Rights $132,217,792 [B]6[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/lowryky01.html']Kyle Lowry[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/TOR.html']TOR[/URL] $28,703,704 $31,000,000 $33,296,296 Bird Rights $93,000,000 [B]7[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/westbru01.html']Russell Westbrook[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/OKC.html']OKC[/URL] $28,530,608 $35,350,000 $38,178,000 $41,006,000 $43,848,000 Bird Rights $186,912,608 [B]8[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/conlemi01.html']Mike Conley[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/MEM.html']MEM[/URL] $28,530,608 $30,521,115 $32,511,623 $34,504,132 Cap Space $113,989,729 [B]9[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/hardeja01.html']James Harden[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/HOU.html']HOU[/URL] $28,299,399 $30,431,854 $37,800,000 $40,824,000 $43,848,000 Bird Rights $181,203,253 [B]10[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/derozde01.html']DeMar DeRozan[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/TOR.html']TOR[/URL] $27,739,975 $27,739,975 $27,739,975 $27,739,975 Cap Space $83,219,925 [B]11[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/horfoal01.html']Al Horford[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/BOS.html']BOS[/URL] $27,734,405 $28,928,710 $30,123,015 Cap Space $56,663,115 [B]12[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/anthoca01.html']Carmelo Anthony[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/OKC.html']OKC[/URL] $26,243,760 $27,928,140 Bird Rights $26,243,760 [B]13[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/lillada01.html']Damian Lillard[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/POR.html']POR[/URL] $26,153,057 $27,977,689 $29,802,321 $31,626,953 1st Round Pick $115,560,020 [B]14[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/holidjr01.html']Jrue Holiday[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/NOP.html']NOP[/URL] $25,686,667 $26,131,111 $26,131,111 $26,131,111 $27,020,000 Bird Rights $104,080,000 [B]15[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/boshch01.html']Chris Bosh[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/MIA.html']MIA[/URL] $25,289,390 $26,837,720 $52,127,110 [B]16[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/duranke01.html']Kevin Durant[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/GSW.html']GSW[/URL] $25,000,000 $26,250,000 Non-Bird Rights $25,000,000 [B]17[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/porteot01.html']Otto Porter[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/WAS.html']WAS[/URL] $24,773,250 $26,011,913 $27,250,576 $28,489,239 Bird Rights $78,035,739 [B]18[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/paulch01.html']Chris Paul[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/HOU.html']HOU[/URL] $24,599,495 Bird Rights $24,599,495 [B]19[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mccolcj01.html']C.J. McCollum[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/POR.html']POR[/URL] $23,962,573 $25,759,766 $27,556,959 $29,354,152 1st Round Pick $106,633,450 [B]20[/B] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bealbr01.html']Bradley Beal[/URL] [URL='https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/WAS.html']WAS[/URL] $23,775,506 $25,434,263 $27,093,019 $28,751,775 Cap Space $105,054,56 [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?