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 Pacific Division:
Golden State Warriors
- None
Los Angeles Clippers
- Carlos Delfino (Waived via the stretch provision) — $650,000
- Jordan Farmar (Waived via the stretch provision) — $510,922
- Miroslav Raduljica (Waived via the stretch provision) — $252,042
Total= $1,412,964
Los Angeles Lakers
- Jonathan Holmes (Waived) — $525,093
- Michael Frazier (Waived) — $50,000
- Robert Upshaw (Waived) — $35,000
- Jabari Brown (Waived) — $9,942
Total= $620,035
Phoenix Suns
- Michael Beasley (Waived via the stretch provision) — $777,778
- Cory Jefferson (Waived) — $372,820
- Bryce Cotton (Waived) — $228,663
Total= $1,379,261
Sacramento Kings
- Wayne Ellington (Waived via the stretch provision) — $882,630
- Vince Hunter (Waived) — $30,000
- Marshall Henderson (Waived) — $25,000
Total= $937,630
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.