Dead Money: Central Division

Not every dollar of each team’s payroll shows up on the court, as franchises often dish out funds to players who are no longer on their rosters. Players with guaranteed money who are waived, either through a standard waiver release, use of the stretch provision, or when a buyout arrangement is reached, still count against a team’s cap figure for the duration of their contracts, or the amount of time specified by the collective bargaining agreement for when a player’s salary is stretched.

There are even situations that arise, like the one with JaVale McGee and the Sixers, where these players are actually the highest-paid on the team. McGee is set to collect $12MM from Philly, and he won’t score one point or collect one rebound for the franchise this season. The next highest-paid athlete for the Sixers is Gerald Wallace, who was also waived, and he is scheduled to earn $10,105,855 for the 2015/16 campaign. In fact, the total payroll for the Sixers’ entire active roster this season is $32,203,553, which is merely $3,709,857 more than the amount being paid to players no longer on the team!

Listed below are the names and cap hits associated with players who are no longer on the rosters of teams in the Central Division:

Chicago Bulls

• Richard Hamilton (Waived via stretch provision) — $333,333

Total= $333,333

Cleveland Cavaliers

• None

Detroit Pistons

• Josh Smith (Waived via stretch provision) — $5,400,000
• Danny Granger (Waived) — $2,170,465
• Cartier Martin (Waived) — $1,270,964
• Aaron Gray (Waived via stretch provision) — $452,049
• Adonis Thomas (Waived) — $60,000

Total= $9,353,478

Indiana Pacers

• Toney Douglas (Waived) — $600,000
• Terran Petteway (Waived) — $6,178

Total= $606,178

Milwaukee Bucks

• Larry Sanders (Waived via stretch provision) — $1,865,547

Total= $1,865,547

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.