NBA Free Agency got started this week and eye-popping salaries were delivered to 2nd tier players. We are talking $16M PER YEAR numbers for guys who score an average of 7 pts per game. For multiple years. And these contracts, unlike the NFL, are mostly guaranteed (sometimes the 4th year may not be guaranteed).
We got busy on twitter..
NBA Salaries PER YEAR
Hill $13M
Mozgov $16M
Noah $18M
Turner $17M
Bazemore $17M
These players averaged 7 pts/game this past season.— Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) July 2, 2016
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To add a little more dimension to the insanity, Wonder says that the Mozgov contract will go down as one of the 10 worst contracts in history.
Some of the NBA and other sports media types tried explaining to NFLers why this was no surprise, as the cap was increasing and everyone knew it. Here is how the NFL community reacted to the difference:
- It is one thing for the cap to deliver monster money to impact players. We understand that a premium gets paid to STARTERS who can do what they do very well. It is another thing entirely for guys who are not making an impact to get insane money.
- The reason why this is taking place is because the pot of money for the NBA has risen and there is maximum cap contract that the stars can make. So there is a new bulge in mid/low tier players.
- There is a big difference in guaranteed vs non-guaranteed money.
- These contracts are all ~4 years.
THESE PLAYERS ARE NOT WORTH 1/3rd OF AN ULTRA ELITE PLAYER LIKE KEVIN DURANT.
A more comprehensive yardstick for looking at this is to compare the mean versus the median salary. For the non-statistician, the mean is the average of all salaries and the median is the salary in the midpoint of players, ie the 6th player on an 11 man roster.
[table id=22 /]The NFL is such a bigger team sport- if the lowly Guard does not make his block, the star QB does not deliver the ball to the star Wide Receiver. We would expect the average salary to be much higher in the NBA versus that of the median player because of the critical nature of the star player. But it is not, mainly because of the maximum cap contract.
We do not begrudge these athletes from getting paid whatever they can get. This is what the market will bear. It is capitalism and if someone is stupid enough to pay (be it the owners, the fans, the tv contracts…), far be it for any of us to stop the money from flowing. The people who read this NY Giants blog are for the most part fans- and our message has been consistent to all sports fans: IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE MONEY PLAYERS ARE GETTING, DON’T SPEND IT SUPPORTING THEM. This was one of the reasons why we were so vociferous against the PSL. Paying sick money for the “right” to pay more money for tickets is a bad idea. As proof, 6 years later the PSL is essentially worthless, as (1) we have been told anecdotally that the PSL cannot be re-sold for anything significant (2) you can find tickets to any game you want to see in the secondary market AND (3) the PSL is a 25% tax because you have to pay for the (essentially worthless) preseason seats.
The guaranteed money is what separates the NFL from the NBA. Yes, the NFL does see teams guarantee a portion of the money in signing bonus. But compared to the NBA, it is much more constrained. True, injuries are a bigger factor, so making large monetary guarantees in the NFL is not smart business. But it is nothing like the NBA, where (as but one example) the Knicks are paying a 31 year old player $18M each year and they are locked in each year until he’s 35.
Guaranteed money is frankly stupid. It is the bidding war for services gone amok. The risks of massive guaranteed money were on full display in the shooting star of Albert Haynesworth. In 2009, Haynesworth was signed for $100M with $41M guaranteed. At the time, that guarantee was a record. The cap in 2009 was $123M. Haynesworth did not like playing nose tackle. He was literally gone from the Redskins after 2 seasons and gone from football entirely after 3 years. As awful as the guaranteed money was, at least the remaining 5 years of his contract was ejected. Haynesworth got his $41M. Not bad for 12 games of work.
Haynesworth’s example clearly shows the power and danger of ANYTHING guaranteed. Overall, the takeaway explains why the NFL is such a better product than the NBA. The regular season matters.. every game. Players need to prove it on the field.. every game. And the consequences of guaranteeing money can be enormous. NBA fans seem to have been ruffled by NFL types who reject the idea of large amounts of money going to 2nd or third tier players. But NFL fans have it right because 15% of your cap is going to a role player- guaranteed- for a long period of time. The bottomline is that when you start guaranteeing a lot of anything to anybody for their EXTENDED future performance, there is too much risk and not enough incentive for them to perform up to the standard of the contract. The NFL may be unsympathetic to the player whose career ends after an injury, but at least the fan who pays the bills is seeing the best out there each week. That is much harder to say about the NBA, where Carmelo is good enough to play in the all star game and 3 days later he is done for the rest of the season.
Professional sports salaries have gone wild for a while now. If you don’t like it or it does not make sense, manage your wallet and do not support it. I used to go to Giants games regularly, but after the PSL I stopped. I do not miss it. If you have the money and it gives you pleasure supporting the team at the game, fantastic. Better yet, find a corporate host and make some noise in one of those seats. The cost is a lot less(!) and the seat might be empty if you are not there.
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