NBA Player Salaries: Then & Now

[ooiron manoo]

Where have ya'll been? I remember my brother and dad talking about David Falk cakin off of those contracts like crazy
Seriously. All these people on here going

and barelyfinding out what Jordan made in his final two years as a Bull, makes me feel kind of old.

I was going

, when talking about it with my boys in HS. Can'tbelieve it's been more than a decade already. I still remember a basketball publication, forgot which one, having a Jordan dunk pose with him in threedifferent uniforms (Knicks, Lakers, Bulls) with a headline "Where will he go?".

, I was the only Bulls/Jordan fan and everyone would harp about Jordan going tothe Lakers, getting me

.

 

[gregbutler20]

I remember reading the jordan salaries out of jet magazine during the late 90s. Signed each season individually too. Serves the bulls right for pocketingeverything all those season before. Brings back old memories too. Jordan was at the peak those years. I couldn't even get a jordan championjersey.

Somebody post penny.

 

[targiu23]

were can you find these, cause i wanna see sprewell's. the way he was complaining in that press conference about not having enough to feed his family.

 

[darthska]

^ basketball-reference.com

 

[breakinyourankles]

Damn Kwame is just stealing from the Lakers. Overpaid as !%@*.

 

[bullsrepeat3peat]

Seriously. All these people on here going

and barely finding out what Jordan made in his final two years as a Bull, makes me feel kind of old.

I was going

, when talking about it with my boys in HS. Can't believe it's been more than a decade already. I still remember a basketball publication, forgot which one, having a Jordan dunk pose with him in three different uniforms (Knicks, Lakers, Bulls) with a headline "Where will he go?".

, I was the only Bulls/Jordan fan and everyone would harp about Jordan going to the Lakers, getting me

.

ya I remember that.... They were all rumors. I had a good feeling he wouldn't leave the Bulls, especially that late in his career, because he didn'twant to play for any other coach besides Phil not to mention the fact that he had just come off a 72-10 championship season where he made $3 mil.... Although Iknew Krause would offer MJ a lot of money

 

[darthska]

I think I remember this SI cover with MJ dunking, and then the same image twice in smaller sizes on the cover, one with MJ in a Lakers jersey, and the otherwith him in a Knicks jersey.

I remember thinking then that there was no way he'd be a Laker, for the same reason I know now that there is no way Kidd will be a Laker: I want it toobad.

 

[RyGuy45]

ya it's a little out of whack.

These players can thank in part the fans who give in and come to the arena and pay obscene money for seats, 10 dollars for a beer, 6 dollars for a bottlewater, and 25 dollars to park, etc.

Or is it the corporations who write off hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase a luxury box for them and their clients?

Maybe it's the $600 million dollar TV contracts.


This generation of players (especially the average players) should get on their knees and pray every night for being born when they were.

 

[aepps20]

SMH at how much some of these overrated players are getting paid.

 

[chikickz]

The NBA lockout in 1998 was the result of basically three NBA contracts: Kevin Garnett's, Juwan Howard's, and Glenn Robinson's. The same ownersthat signed these contracts turned around when confronted by the other owners and copped to the lockout.



I hope today's player is grateful for the Bill Russell's and Oscar Robertson's of NBA past. These guys walked uphill both ways to get to games.

 

[dajoka004]

Originally Posted by RyGuy45

ya it's a little out of whack.

These players can thank in part the fans who give in and come to the arena and pay obscene money for seats, 10 dollars for a beer, 6 dollars for a bottle water, and 25 dollars to park, etc.

Or is it the corporations who write off hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase a luxury box for them and their clients?

Maybe it's the $600 million dollar TV contracts.


This generation of players (especially the average players) should get on their knees and pray every night for being born when they were.

The money will continue to grow to. Sports will never, ever, die. Look at all the negativity surrounding baseball and they still pull in the biggestrevenue ever.

Arenas will get larger. Ticket prices will rise. Television contracts will be more obnoxious. And the athletes are going to get paid more.

 

[the notorious gigi smalls]

Can someone explain why salaries for top players got quadrupled in the mid 90s?

 

[bullsrepeat3peat]

^ If you're talking about KG, it was because of the lockout season in 98-99...... but otherwise the NBA became more popular worldwide as well as theeconomy changes over the years..... If you mean MJ after 96 he signed two 1 year deals in 96-97 and 97-98 for $30 mil & $33 mil.....

 

[kdwallace]

Yeah, MJ's salary those 2 years was basically payback - he had signed reasonable deals for the early 90's for a reasonable number of years and theBulls weren't willing to renegotiate - because obviously they were getting him for about $3m a season.



He had a pretty good bargaining position after the 4th championship to ask for a silly amount to make up for those years.



Scottie did a similar thing - he signed a long term deal for a couple million a season because when he was young he wasn't sure he would be in the leaguetoo long - he wanted to make sure that he had enough to live on if it didn't work out.



The one that jumped out to me was this though - and it happened to quite a few of the players if you look - this is Kobe's:

1998-99 - $1,319,000

1999-00 - $9,000,000




$1.3m is pretty good money - but the next year to be about making that a month would just be nuts.

 

[dcjumpman84]

@ that thievin' *** +*%*$+ Juwan Howard

 

[nbadotcom]

When Tom Chambers signed with the Suns in 1988 he was the first unrestricted free agent in NBA history.
So, I guess he's the godfather of all these contracts.

[table][tr][td]1984-85[/td] [td]Seattle Supersonics[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$374,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1985-86[/td] [td]Seattle Supersonics[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$800,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1986-87[/td] [td]Seattle Supersonics[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]*$875,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1987-88[/td] [td]Seattle Supersonics[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$950,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1988-89[/td] [td]Phoenix Suns[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$1,800,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1989-90[/td] [td]Phoenix Suns[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]*$1,930,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1990-91[/td] [td]Phoenix Suns[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$2,060,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1991-92[/td] [td]Phoenix Suns[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$2,275,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1992-93[/td] [td]Phoenix Suns[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$1,885,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1993-94[/td] [td]Utah Jazz[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$1,295,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1994-95[/td] [td]Utah Jazz[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$2,093,000[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1996-97[/td] [td]Charlotte Hornets[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]*$247,500[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1997-98[/td] [td]Philadelphia 76ers[/td] [td]NBA[/td] [td]$272,250[/td] [/tr][/table]

 

[guillermo gutierez]

what was Finley's salary the year that he was one of the most paid players?

 

[the notorious gigi smalls]

I don't just mean Jordan. Look at the top players in the 80s. Magic making only 2.5 mill? Then all of a sudden players are banking 20 million dollarcontracts like 10 years later? That increase vastly outpaced inflation. The game was becoming more popular worldwide? Wasn't it at its peak popularityworldwide by the time the first Dream Team stepped on the court? Did revenues really jump that substantially in a decade?