The 5 Most Overpaid Players in the NBA Next Season!
July 30, 2008 – Dr. Dime
Given my deep love for the game of basketball, I think that 90% of the players in the NBA are actually overpaid. Especially the ones that are in it for the money and not for the love of the game or for the thrill of the win. Every single player in the NBA that is just there to collect a paycheck and live large in my books is being overpaid. But since the NBA is a business, and the business for franchises is to put butts in seats and get sponsorships and media coverage, sometimes those players that are coasting to collect the dough are actually worth the money you pay them, regardless of wins and losses.
There is no extensive mathematical formula used here to determine the following list of overpaid players. There is just simply opinion, conjecture, and cynacism. If you take issue with any of the picks. Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments section below. That’s why we are all here isn’t it?
TOP 5 Most Overpaid Players for 2008-09 NBA Season
1. Stephon Marbury – $21 million from the New York Knicks
This is a classic example of being blinded by raw talent. NBA scouts and analysts have come a long way over the years in their craft, and I they even administer fairly sophisticated personality testing prior to drafting and even trading in some cases. However there is no bigger misstep or paying for a name then the case with Stephon Marbury. The Knicks are going to have to shell out $21 million this year (unless he gets bought out) for a guy that will either see very little court time, or will be largely less effective than a player they could have got for a bargain price of $1-2 million per. To put this in the proper perspective…..Marbury gets paid more than Kobe, Lebron, Dwade, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony, etc. The list goes on and on. It’s a jaw dropper for sure.
2. Steve Francis – $19.5 million combined from the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets
Here is a guy that had all the talent in the world and in just a few short years now must wake up thinking ‘where the hell did I go wrong’? Francis is hoping to rejuvenate his career in Portland now? Just like he thought he would in Houston right? Hmmm…at least the Blazers get his ridiculously inflated contract off the books after this season. Hello Cap Space! The funniest thing to think about with Francis….is that he is going to make 6.5 times the salary of Brandon Roy this season, the Blazers best player and future of their franchise.
3. Mike Bibby - $15.4 million from the Atlanta Hawks
Tremendous talent, lots of desire and drive, but IMO is just too undersized and overhyped to ever live up to his bloated contract. How do we live in a world where Mike Bibby makes more money than Amare Stoudemire? Actually to be fair and compare apples to apples, how does Bibby make more money than Gilbert Arena’s?? Agent freakin’ Zero man….c’mon. I guess Bibby has a better agent?? David Falk pick up the phone….Falk?
4. Zach Randolph – $15 million from the New York Knicks
While at the time of his signing Zach Randolph was clearly worth the $15 million per that he will be receiving next season, he is another player who’s image was ruined completely by being associated with Isiah era New York Knicks. Here’s a guy that I feel still has time with either his new coach or potentially new team (barring any trade) that could get back on track and really start earning his paycheck. Never been accused of having a great attitude, but no one can deny that Z-Bo is a baller that can flat out take it to you.
5. Ben Wallace – $14.3 million from the Cleveland Cavaliers
At the time the Chicago Bulls signed Wallace to his over-inflated contract to lure him away from the Detroit Pistons he was clearly on the decline. Wallace was definitely considered by most to still be a high value impact player, but not for the type of money the Bulls were throwing at him. Everyone scoffed at that situation. What most didn’t realize was just how far and how fast Wallace would fall in his on court value. Now in Cleveland he is just barely holding on to his starting role while raking in more money than even his star teammate Lebron ‘King’ James himself! (referring obviously to money earned strictly from hoops, as Lebron is a money making endorsement machine). IMO Wallace was outplayed throughout the entire Cavs playoff run this year by Anderson Varejao who is only going to make $5.5 million this upcoming season.
Now I realize there are a lot of factors involved in the business side of things, and why teams would take on an inflated contract, depending on when it expires and what exceptions it creates etc. So that being said this list in no way is an attempt to poke fun at the teams that signed these players for such ridiculous amounts of cash, but more to put into perspective the fact that if you are a free agent in a season with little other free agent talent available, you may be able to command a huge contract in bidding wars between teams trying to claw their way into title contention. Or on the other hand you might benefit from the New York Knicks deep pockets….
EZ
with the extensions of Okafor, Biedrins and Ellis you have some contenders to fill the list again in the next years
I would add Luol Deng to that list now. Not that he is not a good player but he hasn’t proved himself to be a 20pt or more a night average player. He also is not an allstar. I say $80 million is a lot for a player with these statistical numbers.
@beesmooth I agree on the Deng thing. He is a great player but at this point he is still more of a role player than a superstar. He is getting paid more than many superstars. It is crazy
Any of you guys think Bogut should be on that list? A couple emails came into the admin email address after this went up chirpin’ about Bogut. I think the Jury might still be out on Bogut. He still has lots of potential. I say give the Bucks one more year to see what kind of guts they have….
Allen Iverson?
brandon – Allen Iverson? He may be paid a lot but the guy is a damn hall of famer. Also he was one of the top scorers and steals guys in the league last year. The guy is ageless. I know the nuggets didn’t do well las year in the playoffs, but c’mon Iverson was not the problem. He was the only nugget that was consistent all year long.
Iverson from a stat perspective had his best season ever, and he’s one of the greatest players all time. He probably is worth even more money than what he gets….
@ testy_artest: You can cut it how you’d like, but there’s no way AI is worth $20,840,625 next season. He scores a lot because he shoots a lot. He gets a lot of steals because he gambles in the passing lanes. More often than not, those steal attempts put his team in poor defensive position.
But you’re right, he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer. That doesn’t necessarily make him worth his salary.
Brandon makes good points about Iversons volume shooting and gambling in passing lanes. But if you are talking about who is “worth” their salary I may have to ask “from who’s perspective” …..Iverson is worth his salary to owners all around the league. The guy brings in the fans and makes franchise’s money…even losing teams. I would venture to guess that 75% of the GM’s in the league would take on $20 mill for a chance at having the little warrior on their ball club.
From a fans perspective he may not be worth 20 million as he hasn’t played on a winning team since 2001 when they surrounded him with rebounders, defenders, and role players. Maybe Balkman will help Iverson look better like the Eric Snow’s , Aaron McKie’s, Tyrone Hill, and all did…
umm how about Kenyon Martin, 16 million, he gets paid almost the exact same as Carmelo Anthony
@Nugz – Now there is a great example. I will have to give Dr. Dime s&%t for missing that one! I know he considered a lot of different players but could only choose 5, but I don’t remember him even chatting about Kmart around here in our discussions! That in my mind has to be definite Top 5!
Good eye!
how come neither o’neal made the list? what about kenyon martin? even diop is overpaid
@ Anklesnap: You may want to begin that owners survey with Stan Kroenke, who has had to let go of Steve Blake, Eduardo Najera, and Marcus Camby recently. I don’t think any of those departures made sense from a talent standpoint, but when you’re paying one guy $20 million per season, it’s hard to stay below the luxury tax.
The Nuggets haven’t really seen a large increase in tickets sales since they acquired AI. Here’s a link to ESPN’s attendance figures:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendance?year=2008
You can scroll back as far as the 2002-2003 season.
I can’t comment on jersey sales, but I’m sure AI’s jersey is a popular item.
Hey Brandon,
Have you noticed the highest Nuggets win totals in many many years? maybe even ever? sure they got bounced first round of playoffs….but if you are a Nugz fan for real I thought you might have noticed one of their best seasons ever of their franchise history.
LOL. Coincidental it happened when Iverson showed up I guess?
I hear you guys on Deng. But he is just 23. He definitely has not reached his ceiling yet. He’ll definitely need to improve and add to his game to be worth it.
@ nbalive: Yes, I noticed the Nuggets won 5 more regular season games with AI, than they did with Andre Miller. And I’ve also noticed they’ve been bounced in the first round too.
Brandon the Nuggets are much better with Iverson. The West was tough and they were one of the top 8. With Dre miller no way they would have beat out golden state for playoffs
LARRY HUGHES!!!
@Vik C
“well played sir, well played”
Larry Hughes has become a definite candidate. How you likin’ Mr. Rose so far?
@ JimJam: On the surface, I can see why you would believe that. But I live in Denver, and I watch the Nuggets often. I don’t think Denver is a better team than they were with Andre Miller. I think most of their improvement can be attributed to Linus Kleiza and J.R. Smith’s development. Which would have happened with or without Iverson. In fact, I think Iverson has stunted Carmelo’s maturation as a player.
But to each his own.
Great blog Hoop Doctors.
Thanks Brandon!
by the way, I rolled to three or four Nugz games this past season, as one of my boyz recently moved to Denver for work. He lives walking distance to Pepsi Center. Nice city man….hilly….
EZ
@Brandon those are good points but that is the dilemma every team struggles with when deciding what the right complement of players to put on a team. Iverson may stunt Melo’s development but that is more a function of the fact he shoots a lot to light up the opposition. Iverson is one of the greatest scorers of all time. Did you expect him to change now? And why change when he’s so good at it.
I would blame the mgmt for not realizing Iverson would take over on offense. You can’t blame Iverson for doing what he does, or say he doesn’t deserve his big paycheck for being once again one of the top scorers in the league. If anything his assists were up this year and he played better than usual.
So I say mgmt to blame for not realizing nto a good mix of players. Not iverson’s fault for being the man.
@ JimJam: Yes, I expected Iverson to change his game when he was traded to Denver. For years, the story on Iverson was the lack of talent surrounding him. “What could AI do with Shaq?” Etc. But he’s got all of the talent in the world in Denver, and the story is the same, he’s a ball stopper who doesn’t make his teammates better.
It’s sad really because he plays extremely hard, he just doesn’t play the right way.
Yeah, he scores a lot of points. But again, that’s not what Denver needs. Denver needs a facilitator. Skill-wise, Iverson is capable of playing that role. He just doesn’t have the mentality.
the nba is 70 % overpaid! guys have one good year in contract years and then ride the money train until it runs out. the worst players are guys like Walker who got paid too much and now just gets thrown around in trades just to make the salaries match and doesnt see the floor.
as for Iverson being overpaid, i cant agree with that. he’s amongst the many nba players that make too much money for playing bball, but compared to the clowns out there gettting crazy money he’s a gem.
Sorry to come to this discussion late, but I had to give some props to this list. The old-school pictures make this post great!
i think Lewis should on this list,
in addition Dampier, J O’neal
[...] Hoop Doctors have their list of the top 5 most overpaid players for the 2008-2009 NBA season. Will Luol Deng make it on a future [...]
J Oneal shouldn’t be if he’s healthy. We will see this year with the Raps. If they are one of the tops in the east he will be worth every penny
im in agreement, marbury is overrated.
[...] The 5 Most Overpaid Players. [...]
Michael Finely got over 20 million last year ..most of that came from Mark Cuban but still.. for a guy that averaged 26 minutes a game and was a role player at best…that works out to over 9k per minute. That is one overpaid player.
@SpursLover
Good call on the Finley!
Marbury…… i’m so glad Phoenix got rid of his greedy ass……
even if iverson gets paid more than hes worth, he does bring in many fans and lots of cash, as stated before, so any team would gladly pay 20M for him (in my opinion). As for marbury…where do i even start? he gets paid much more than many more deserving players for what? giving the team, coach and owner attitude, and being a terrible team player? the knicks need to seriously rework their payroll
Brandon,
I think you’re overlooking the “talent” on the nuggets. They’re a team full of talented slackers. Carmelo is a scorer and that’s it, he contributes nothing else to the team (reminds me alot of Glenn Robinson), i.e. rebounding, assists, defense. Then you have Kenyon Martin who is wildly erratic and impossible to handle, and Camby who is an offensive liability. And Iverson who could use a better shot selection. I said all that to say that you can’t possibly blame Denver’s problems on AI. Pure facts are that their record improved, albeit 5 games. If anything the blame should fall on George Karl who has been unable to get the Nuggets to play team defense (not just AI playing passing lanes, but Carmelo actually guarding someone) and allows to much iso plays for AI and melo. If they just committed on defense they would be out of the first round, you said yourself that scoring wasn’t a problem. And while it’s true that AI is a ball stopper, he’s supposed to be; he’s one of the greatest scorers of all time. They do need him to score, they just all need to play some D
Has anyone thought about Raef Lafrenz making 12.7 million for 7.5 minutes of play per game and averaging 1.7 points per game. that is equal within a million of Portlands all star Brandon Roy,Greg Oden, and Lamarcus Aldridge combined.
That has to count for something
RASHARD LEWIS!!?? He’s making Kobe money putting up Hedo numbers(less than Hedo numbers actually). He has to be on this list. This coming from a die hard Magic fan….I would put him just under Marbury. Lewis will make over 16 mill next year.
http://www.hotboxsports.com/article/2008/10/The-All-Important-Contract-Year-Players
list of 2008 nba contract players
What’s the possiblity of a new player to the NBA, who happens to be in his early 30’s, getting paid to the tune of 15 mill or plus, for that matter, who has returned to the states with a past professional career overseas? Assuming the player can shoot 3’s nearly half court, and is in top physical shape. We are up in arms arguing the likelihood and unlikelihood of this happening this millenium. I mean, really, it seems a player walking away with a purse that size would have to play damn near like Anthony sight unseen??!! Ya just don’t start out with your pockets dragging the ground until you have contributed something??
Rashard Lewis of course. He is on a contract of $118 and making a lot more than Dwight Howard is. Ridiculous.
How about Kenny Thomas of the Sac. Kings drawing down $8.5 mil and hasn’t played a minute and not the IR. What’s the deal there??
Raef LaFrenze? The dude gets paid 12 million and hasnt played in like 3 seasons
Dwyane Wade MVP — Respect
Go Heat Yaaah
wat about wally zerbiack
AI deserves a big paycheck. Marbury 21m? what the hell!