A few weeks ago, Thomas Van Riper wrote an article for Forbes.com detailing the Most Overpaid players in the NBA. And today, Van Riper has an article – again at Forbes.com – listing the Most Underpaid players in the league. Topping the list is a player who will surprise some, and anger some fans in Cleveland.
Here is how the Van Riper article begins…
Cleveland has been in quite a huff. The selfish, ungrateful King, LeBron James, abandoned the city, taking his talents to South Beach. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert went ballistic, fans burned his jersey and then turned LeBron’s return last week with the Miami Heat into an insult-fest akin to a George W. Bush visit to Berkeley.
Talk about ungrateful. Instead of vilifying James, Clevelanders ought to be thanking him for the great ride. Gilbert should be thanking him too–the salary he doled out to James was a pittance compared to the victories and money that rolled in during his Cleveland reign.
Yes, at $15.8 million, LeBron was the NBA’s most underpaid player in 2009-’10. At almost 30 points and nine assists per game, 50.5% shooting and 39 minutes a night on the floor, James produced more wins for his club (27.2) than any player in the league. All while earning less than Zach Randolph and Pau Gasol, and about the same as slightly lesser stars Dwight Howard and James’ new Miami runningmate, Dwayne Wade. James edges out Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Boston’s Rajon Rondo as the player who delivered the most for the money last season.
Yes, King James – when we consider Wins Produced, the average cost of a win in the NBA — was the most “exploited” player in the NBA in 2009-10 (and once again, this story relies upon the somewhat “crude” method I have offered in the past in this forum).
Van Riper’s article includes a very cool slide show which reveals the top ten “underpaid” players. The other names on the list include Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo, and Dwight Howard. For the rest of the names, check out the slide show. And for even more names, check out the post I offered on the overpaid list (yes, I sort of jumped the gun a few weeks ago).
– DJ
Wages of Wins Journal 
DKH
December 7, 2010
Eh, Van Riper is presenting a straw man argument. No one calls LeBron selfish because of his salary desires vs. his productivity. Probably many Clevelanders are aware of his worth, and are aware that there is an individual player salary cap that prevented Gilbert or any other team from paying him more.
Tyler
December 8, 2010
DKH is right, the “selfish”ness that Cleveland fans referred to never referred to money, as evident by James taking less than a maximum contract. It referred to the fact that James did everything to maximize his exposure to the spotlight, then abandoned his quest to bring a championship to “his” fans in order to increase the chances he could bring one to himself. Equating this statistical analysis to money is misguided, because that connection was never implied in the first place.
As far as him being underpaid, it is a factor of the individual player cap than anything else. This begs the question–why have an individual player salary cap? As long as there is a team salary cap which every team has the revenue to substantiate reaching, why not (a) reward the players who produce the most wins proportionally, and (b) free teams to allocate similarly restricted resources as they see fit?
Leroy Smith
December 8, 2010
Tyler,
I think the annwer to your questions is inept GMs make the decisions.
brgulker
December 8, 2010
Poor guy. I really feel bad for him.
kevin
December 8, 2010
I can’t believe the salaries that mediocre players like Ilgauskas are getting-north of 8 figures. That blows me away.
Tyler
December 9, 2010
Leroy, are you saying the rules are such to protect GMs from themselves, or that the GMs created an inefficient system out of stupidity? I could believe either.
Actually, the strongest rationale I can come up with is that it’s a form of basketball socialism amongst the players. If teams could allocate funds as they saw fit, there would be a bidding war for the league’s best players (and rightfully so, according to wins produced), leaving less to pay everyone else. Do you think the players association would approve a CBA that raised the salary of 5% of its members and reduced the salary of the other 95%? That’d be about as popular as reducing the marginal tax rate on millionaires to zero.