As non-playoff teams prepare to seek offseason upgrades, it's worth taking a look at a few of the salary commitments already on teams' books for 2013/14. We'll do this more thoroughly in the coming weeks, as we preview each club's offseason individually. But for now, let's check in on each team's highest-paid player.
In some cases, a free-agent-to-be will ultimately become the highest-paid player on his team for 2013/14. In other instances, a player that currently projects to be his club's highest-paid player may be traded before next season gets underway. But at the moment, here are the players expected to be in line for the most money next season on each of the NBA's 30 teams:
- 76ers: Jrue Holiday, $9.21MM
- Bobcats: Ben Gordon, $13.2MM. Gordon has a player option, but is a lock to pick it up.
- Bucks: Ersan Ilyasova, $7.9MM. Monta Ellis has an $11MM player option that would make him the Bucks' highest-paid player, but he's expected to opt out.
- Bulls: Derrick Rose, $17.63MM
- Cavaliers: Anderson Varejao, $9.04MM
- Celtics: Paul Pierce, $15.33MM. Not only is Pierce's last year a player option, but only $4MM of it is guaranteed. Still, I expect he'll exercise the option and I doubt Boston will buy him out.
- Clippers: Blake Griffin, $13.67MM. Griffin's salary actually figures to be a little higher, depending on where the maximum salary ends up for '13/14. Either way, if Chris Paul re-signs with L.A., Paul's will have the team's highest salary.
- Grizzlies: Zach Randolph, $17.8MM
- Hawks: Al Horford, $12MM
- Heat: LeBron James, $19.07MM; Chris Bosh, $19.07MM
- Jazz: Marvin Williams, $7.5MM
- Kings: Marcus Thornton, $8.05MM
- Knicks: Carmelo Anthony, $22.41MM
- Lakers: Kobe Bryant, $30.45MM
- Magic: Gilbert Arenas, $22.35MM. Arenas may be off Orlando's cap, but the team continues to pay the amnesty casualty a ridiculous salary in '13/14. Jameer Nelson will likely be the highest-paid player still on the roster, at $8.6MM, since only $6MM of Hedo Turkoglu's $12MM player option is guaranteed.
- Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki, $22.72MM
- Nets: Joe Johnson, $21.47MM
- Nuggets: Andre Iguodala, $16.15MM
- Pacers: Roy Hibbert, $14.28MM
- Pelicans: Eric Gordon, $14.28MM
- Pistons: Charlie Villanueva, $8.58MM. Villanueva has a player option which he'll exercise, but he could also be amnestied. Rodney Stuckey is the team's next biggest salary at $8.5MM, though only $4MM of that amount is guaranteed. Jonas Jerebko would be next at $4.5MM.
- Raptors: Rudy Gay, $17.89MM
- Rockets: James Harden, $13.67MM. Like Griffin's max salary, Harden's exact amount won't be known until July, but figures to be a little higher.
- Spurs: Tony Parker, $12.5MM
- Suns: Marcin Gortat, $7.73MM
- Thunder: Kevin Durant, $17.83MM
- Timberwolves: Kevin Love, $14.69MM
- Trail Blazers: Brandon Roy, $17.89MM. Roy is the other amnesty victim besides Arenas who will still represent the largest expense on his former team's books. LaMarcus Aldridge, at $14.63MM, is next.
- Warriors: Andrew Bogut, $14MM
- Wizards: Emeka Okafor, $14.49MM
Storytellers Contracts was used in the creation of this post.
Finally the last year of the Arenas deal thankfully can’t wait to see what the Magic do with the cap space.