The salary cap and luxury tax are in place to help curb the advantages that large-market teams would have in an open market. They haven't stopped the Nets and Knicks from having more players making at least $10MM this season than almost every team in the league. Only the Bulls, who like the Knicks have four such players, are in the same class as the New York contingent, which is led by the Nets and their fivesome of eight-figure players.
The Bulls and the Big Apple teams seem even more profligate when juxtaposed with the four NBA clubs that don't have $10MM+ contracts at all. The Suns and Sixers play in fairly large markets, but they're still without highly paid talent, just as the Kings and Bucks are. Two more teams don't have anyone who's guaranteed at least $10MM, since Hedo Turkoglu and Andrew Bynum are promised only $6MM from the Magic and Cavs, respectively.
A team top-heavy with well-compensated players doesn't always succeed on the basketball court, of course. The Heat have won back-to-back championships with no one other than their trio of stars making $10MM or more. The Rockets and Grizzlies figure to be among the Western Conference elite even though they each only have a pair of eight-figure salaries. And since the three teams with the most high-dollar contracts all play in the Eastern Conference, at least one of them isn't going to make the conference finals — and that assumes that the Heat won't make it that far.
Here's the complete list:
Teams with five $10MM+ contracts
- Nets: Joe Johnson ($21,466,718), Deron Williams ($18,466,130), Paul Pierce ($15,333,334), Brook Lopez ($14,693,906), Kevin Garnett ($12,433,735)
Teams with four $10MM+ contracts
- Bulls: Derrick Rose ($17,632,688), Carlos Boozer ($15,300,000), Luol Deng ($14,275,000), Joakim Noah ($11,100,000)
- Knicks: Amare Stoudemire ($21,679,893), Carmelo Anthony ($21,388,954), Tyson Chandler ($14,100,538), Andrea Bargnani ($11,862,500)
Teams with three $10MM+ contracts
- Celtics: Kris Humphries ($12,000,000), Rajon Rondo ($11,954,545), Gerald Wallace ($10,105,855)
- Clippers: Chris Paul ($18,668,431), Blake Griffin ($16,441,500), DeAndre Jordan ($10,986,550)
- Heat: Chris Bosh ($19,067,500), LeBron James ($19,067,500), Dwyane Wade ($18,673,000)
- Nuggets: Ty Lawson ($10,786,517), JaVale McGee ($10,750,000), Danilo Gallinari ($10,146,925)
- Pacers: Roy Hibbert ($14,283,844), Danny Granger ($14,021,788), David West ($12,000,000)
- Spurs: Tony Parker ($12,500,000), Tim Duncan ($10,361,446), Tiago Splitter ($10,000,000)
- Thunder: Kevin Durant ($17,832,627), Russell Westbrook ($14,693,906), Serge Ibaka ($12,350,000)
- Warriors: Andrew Bogut ($14,000,000), David Lee ($13,878,000), Andre Iguodala ($12,868,632)
Teams with two $10MM+ contracts
- Bobcats: Al Jefferson ($13,500,000), Ben Gordon ($13,200,000)
- Lakers: Kobe Bryant ($30,453,805), Pau Gasol ($19,285,850)
- Grizzlies: Zach Randolph ($18,238,333), Marc Gasol ($14,860,523)
- Pelicans: Eric Gordon ($14,283,844), Tyreke Evans ($11,796,247)
- Rockets: Dwight Howard ($20,513,178), James Harden ($13,701,250)
- Timberwolves: Kevin Love ($14,693,906), Nikola Pekovic ($12,100,000)
- Trail Blazers: LaMarcus Aldridge ($14,878,000), Nicolas Batum ($11,295,250)
- Wizards: Emeka Okafor ($14,487,500), Nene Hilario ($13,000,000)
Teams with one $10MM+ contract
- Hawks: Al Horford ($12,000,000)
- Jazz: Richard Jefferson ($11,046,000)
- Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki ($22,721,381)
- Pistons: Josh Smith ($13,500,000)
- Raptors: Rudy Gay ($17,888,932)
- Cavaliers: Andrew Bynum ($12,250,000 — only guaranteed for $6MM)
- Magic: Hedo Turkoglu ($12,000,000 — only guaranteed for $6MM)
Teams without a $10MM+ contract
- 76ers
- Bucks
- Kings
- Suns
ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.