In 2015-16 Kobe had the highest salary in the league at $25 million.
He put up 17.5/4/3 with the 4th highest usage rate that year playing around 28 MPG. Shooting splits of 36/28/83 for the 7th lowest TS% in the league. Meanwhile, the lakers finished bottom of the West with a 17-65 record.
Looking at advanced metrics: 2nd worst plus minus per game, 4th worst defensive box plus minus, 7th lowest win shares and 2nd lowest WS/48 (both negative) and all of which are the worst among Lakers players that year.
I understand he was injured and it was a farewell tour but purely from a production relative to salary perspective is this the worst season by a player ever or would it still be better than e.g a star being injured all year or refusing to play but making the max.
Giannis making 60+ a year. Insane that the highest was 25 less than a decade ago.
Ben Simmons the last three years
Imagine if Lebron put up numbers like that 😂
Almost no one will remember Jim McIlvaine getting paid by the Sonics to effectively just be a shot blocker and commit as many fouls against the best Centers in the league.
Using advanced metrics, sure. However, how much dinero did he generate with tv, apparel and ticket revenue, as everybody clamored to see the farewell tour? Worth it.
Barkley’s 1 million so the Rockets could sign Pippen but that failed. You can argue it was worse the season after
Crazy that $25 million was the highest salary in the league and it wasn’t even that long ago. Now Giannis is signing for over $60 million.
Wonder how retired players feel like are they happy for the next generation or do people like Scottie end up bitter that they made less than league minimum
It’s like you people don’t understand the Lakers were going full youth during Kobe’s last years and gave him the money because who the else were they were going to spend it on?
In advance, I understand the question, but given the subject matter and the player you chose as an example, it comes across as a bit of an attempt at engagement mining.
Kobe made more money for the Lakers than what they could’ve ever given him on his farewell tour…Kobe is STILL making them money even though he is no longer here.
Again, I understand the question but you didn’t choose a great example. You went with something more akin to a hot take.
Just my .02 cents.
No it’s a fair critique, I’m not a fan of legacy contracts so that probably factored into why I used the example and like you said he put enough people in seats to makeup the money anyway
I don’t know if culture matters as much in basketball anymore because a lot of players move around so much now, but it does set a good precedent as an organization to take care of your own later in their career. It can attract future players at least theoretically
I guess it depends on what kind of culture you want to promote, Timmy D took major salary cuts as his production dropped and he got older which atleast in my head is sending out the message of here the team and it’s performance always comes first. Obviously you can’t blame Kobe for taking the bag he was offered but I just don’t like organizations promoting the star is bigger than the team
huh? why would they pay Kobe less when Lakers weren’t going anywhere anyways. They weren’t trying to bring in star players to win a ring. Lakers fans didn’t give a fuck about that contract.
But that’s quite literally my point. Lakers gave Kobe the 2 year max extension rather than asking him to take a cut and trying to sign free agents when he was already washed from injury because of his fan love/box office appeal and prioritized the farewell tour over rookie development for the same reasons: the culture is about putting on a show through the stars not ensuring consistent team success a la the Spurs. You’re quoting the culture to refute my criticism of the culture.
Lakers attract players just because of the location and franchise history. If they want to overpay an old injured Kobe, I’ve got nothing against it, but I don’t think the legacy contract helped or hurt them in any way.
Agent Zero, Gilbert Arenas, was paid some $62 million by the Magic over three years to play zero minutes.
The Dallas Mavericks traded for Davis Bertans who made 17 million to score 4.6 ppg in 10 mpg.
There are far worse contracts, but no one EVER mentions how useless the Bertans contract is for Dallas that is in win now mode
This is a good one. Nobody talks about how bad the Porzingis for Dinwiddie/Bertans trade was for the Mavs
Bill Bradley was the highest paid player in the league as a rookie in 1968.
He averaged 8/3/3 on below average efficiency in the regular season and 6/1/0 in the playoffs.
Okay, but I bet he made like $20k per year lol.
$20k was a lot back then.
After researching this issue, I’m both amazed and bewildered about a few things.
Amazed: Bradley was drafted twice. First in 1965 by the 76ers, but he said “Nah, fuck that.” He didn’t sign a contract, played ball in Italy, went to Oxford, dropped out, and then went into the Air Force. Then joined the Knicks in 1967.
Bewildered: Why the fuck does Bill Bradley look like an old man at the age of 22?
Didn’t he also go on to be a US Senator?
Yep, senator of New Jersey.
For some reason I thought this was about Bill Russell and could not have been more surprised upon clicking that link
Gotta be Ben Simmons
Joakim Noah
Knicks 2017-18 40 MP, 12 PTS, 14 RBDS $17,765,000
Knicks 2018-19 0 MP - Played for the Grizzlies $18,530,000
The Knicks then paid him $19,294,998 over the span of the next 3 seasons. He retired in 2020, was paid until 2022.
Phil Jackson is a GOAT GM <3
Can we adjust for salary inflation? Jk but for actual inflation? Forget it, it’s hopeless.
