It was pretty common knowledge the NBA’s salary cap was going up significantly heading into free agency, and the deals players signed were going to be much higher than normal this offseason. Still, even armed with this knowledge ahead of time, it is hard to fathom some of the massive deals players are signing.
Mike Conley is now the ninth-highest paid athlete on a per-year basis thanks to his 5-year, $153 million deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. For now, that is the richest contract in league history for a player who has never made an All-Star appearance.
Per Wiki, Mike Conley’s new deal ($30.6M/year) makes him the 9th highest paid athlete in sports on a per year basis. pic.twitter.com/7E0PsypwIr
— Eddie Maisonet, III (@edthesportsfan) July 1, 2016
Toronto guard DeMar Derozan signed for nearly $140 million, and Miami center Hassan Whiteside scored nearly a $100-million deal as well. But the cash flow extends well beyond the biggest names in free agency. Role players like Timofey Mozgov (4 years, $64 million), Matthew Dellavedova (4 years, $38.4 million), and Evan Turner (4 years, $70 million) also signed massive deals.
With all this cash being bandied about, many NFL players could not help but notice their fellow professional athlete’s windfalls. It is hard to blame them when they are stuck in a league where Andrew Luck’s record-setting deal still has him making less guaranteed money than Chandler Parsons.
Looks like I chose the wrong sport 🤑🤑😂#nbafreeagency
— Emmanuel Sanders (@ESanders_10) July 1, 2016
Call me a hater but these NBA deals are insane I have to google the players getting paid🤔🤔 #nonamechecks #productiondoesntcount
— DeAngelo Williams (@DeAngeloRB) July 1, 2016
Can I start playing basketball now? https://t.co/iX1LKvXNJX
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) July 1, 2016
These NBA contracts got me like… #NBAFreeAgency pic.twitter.com/uWR4qK21Ac
— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) July 1, 2016
There are some economic reasons for the disparity in deals across the two sports, as ESPN’s Bomani Jones pointed out on his Twitter feed Friday morning, but it is still a little hard to come to grips with this rapid influx of money.
nfl salaries are lower than many believe is deserved. so many factors get you there. only 16 games. 53 man rosters. all that risk. tricky.
— bomani (@bomani_jones) July 1, 2016
Discrepancies aside, one thing is for certain: It has truly never been a better a time to be a mediocre NBA basketball player.
