Last week, we took a look at each of the NBA's six divisions, recapping 2012 free agent spending around the league. The upshot? The five Atlantic teams combined to spend way more than any other division, while the Southeast squads spent significantly less than any other division. The results provided a number of other items of note though, so let's take a look at some of our findings.
Because these figures are based solely on free agent spending, our numbers don't take into account money committed to draft picks or salary exchanged in trades. Additionally, these totals are based on the potential earnings for every free agent if he plays out his whole contract, so option years and nonguaranteed years are included in our calculations. Here are this summer's top five spenders in free agency:
- Brooklyn Nets: $243.053MM
- Boston Celtics: $133.606MM
- Indiana Pacers: $128.366MM
- New Orleans Hornets: $108.948MM
- Denver Nuggets: $63.875MM
Bottom five spenders:
- Washington Wizards: $1.801MM
- Detroit Pistons: $4.875MM
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $7.598MM
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $7.682MM
- Utah Jazz: $8.000MM
And each division's total commitments:
- Atlantic: $498.269MM
- Southwest: 262.169MM
- Central: 196.083MM
- Pacific: $189.221MM
- Northwest: 179.711MM
- Southeast: $71.836MM
For more information on the offseason's free agent spending, check out our posts for the individual division (linked above) or peruse Hoops Rumors' free agent tracker.