Article:They're Stealing Money! The Most Overpaid NBA Players



My '07-'08 installment of the most-overpaid NBA players has a mix of big-time players (well, they used to be) and some lesser-known scrubs collecting checks they don't deserve. I love America! > > Note: The salary data presented here is not guaranteed to have perfect figures (mainly because many of these washed-up players have been bought out of their original contracts for a lesser amount) - but it's close enough. These are simply my opinions using information obtained from a host of online sources.

With that said - let's get to it with The Top 10

Starting with the poster boy for this group - C. Webb


 * 1) Chris Webber - $19,000,000 : Wait - is he even playing this season? Oh yeah, another Billy King disaster and the tagline for this blog. Webber has the best job in the world: sit at home watching guys work their asses off in the league, contemplating which championship-contending team he will try and slither his way onto. All while still collecting checks from the Sixers. How do I sign up for that? Damn, they fired that guy in Philly who was giving out the sweet deals.
 * 2) Juwan Howard - $7,645,344 : Playing only 8.5mpg with Dallas, getting paid over $6.8M from Minnesota and no statistics worth mentioning here, Howard is pretty much doing what his buddy Webber is. Except that he has court-side seats. What's with these Fab-5 Michigan guys?
 * 3) Adonal Foyle - $10,157,090 : Who the hell is Adonal Foyle? He's getting $1.2M from Orlando currently and is owed $8.9M this season and $9.7M next season from Golden State. (Just shaking my head).  This is when you know you're overpaid: on Sportscenter, when you get in the game and actually do something productive the sportscaster says "Look, it's an Adonal Foyle sighting!"
 * 4) Steve Francis - $18,870,000 : 5.5ppg, 3apg, 33% fgs, 24% 3pt in 20 minutes per night with his new/old team the Houston Rockets means Steve Francis isn't the "Franchise" any more. He is getting $2.4M from Houston and another $16.4M from Portland via the Knicks (remember the Zach Randolph trade?). So why is he still getting paid "franchise player" money? 
 * 5) Eric Dampier - $10,590,500 : He is getting paid more than Josh Howard. That makes me laugh every time I think about it. Can someone please explain to me how a starting center only averaging 6.4rpg is getting paid $10.5M? I guess when you're a billionaire you can pay this much for a player with mediocre talent and work ethic.
 * 6) Michael Finley - $21,696,750 : Did you know he is the 2 nd -highest-paid player in the NBA? Getting about $3.1M from the Spurs and over $18M from Dallas makes Finley the most expensive token-starter in NBA history, while Manu Ginobili is the best shooting guard on the team and plays the majority of the minutes in crunch time.
 * 7) Kwame Brown - $9,075,000 : Michael Jordan's biggest basketball mistake - drafting this guy with the #1 pick in 2001. I will give MJ a break here because he is my favorite player. This was one of the weakest drafts in terms of clear superstar talent going in. This is the reason you make the safe pick this high in the draft as to not look like an idiot 6 years later when "potential" equals "just not that good."
 * 8) Ben Wallace - $15,500,000 : Really, who thinks Ben Wallace is worth this much money? Who thought he was worth this much money when he was in Detroit? Clearly not Joe Dumars if they let an important piece of a championship team go. His major contributions were rebounding and defense, and his RPG have declined every year since the '02-'03 season. That's 3 years of regression before he got this ridiculous deal. What exactly was Chicago thinking?
 * 9) Rasho Nesterovic - $7,840,000 : Really? Do I need to say anything else - it's Rasho Nesterovic! What does he do? What has he ever done?
 * 10) Shaquille O'Neal - $20,000,000 : It's sad to see one of the most dominant players in the NBA on this list. Considering his production has steadily declined since his first year in Miami and since he's been unable to play 90% of a season for most of his career with the last coming in '00-'01, it's only fair. But I don't really blame Shaq; this is the time in all great big men's careers when they start to slide. At 35-years-old he's no longer the "Big Aristotle" but the "Big Dollar Sign" getting in Dwyane Wade's way.

Now meet the New York Knicks:

Stephon Marbury - $19,012,500 : Umm, I don't know what to say about Starbury at this point. Dude is just crazy now. This youtube video of Marbury being interviewed pretty much sums up why this guy shouldn't be getting paid $19M. The commentary is just as hilarious. Jerome James - $5,800,000 : Never played more that 17mpg, scored more than 5ppg, grabbed more than 3rpg or shot over 51% from the field as a 7'1, 285-lb center. Enough said. Malik Rose - $7,101,250 : His 15 minutes of fame on the '02-'03 championship Spurs team netted him this hefty contract. Since he is a born-and-raised Philly guy and I'm hometown-biased, I will leave my comment as - WHY? Quentin Richardson - $ 8,105,500 : He had an OK year his last season with the Clippers, followed that up with another OK season in Phoenix. Somehow just OK warranted $8M per year. He could be a decent role player on a team with a solid point guard (PHX) - but no way do role players get $8 million dollars.

Lebron's supporting cast: 

Larry Hughes - $12,000,084 : He's just not worth $12M. Maybe if he ever consistently lived up to his potential he would be, but he has failed to effectively be a sidekick with two future hall-of-famers. So why do teams continue to pay this guy star player money with the hope that he will live up to it? Eric Snow - $6,703,125 : One of my most-hated Sixers players ever. Now Lebron has to deal with the frustration of getting double and triple-teamed only to pass to a wide open Snow at the foul line - BRICK!

UN-honorable Mention:


 * Wally Szcerbiak - $12,000,000 : I don't know about you but I never thought Wally was that good, and he was pawned off on KG as a #2 guy. Yes, he can shoot but that's about all you're getting from him. No boards, assists or defense of any kind from this 6'7 player. If Kyle Korver isn't worth $12M Szcerbiak definitely isn't either
 * Theo Ratliff - $11,666,667 : One of the most injury-prone players I have seen, having only played five 70+ game seasons in 13 years. He could have been a coveted reserve big man for a championship-caliber team the way he played defense and rebounded.
 * Brad Miller - $10,500,000 : If I have Dalembert on the list I gotta have Miller. Their production is comparable; it's just Sammy hits closer to home, and Brad doesn't seem as dumb.
 * Samuel Dalembert - $10,251,435 : Why do the 76ers have the 9 th highest payroll while having the 19 th best winning %? Oh yeah - Billy King thought paying Samuel Dalembert $70M+ over 6 years was a good idea. Whew! Thank God that guy is finally out of the Sixers front office. At least we're not in as bad a shape as the Knicks.
 * Troy Murphy - $9,206,349 : The numbers speak for themselves on this one. Career Stats: 11.2ppg, 7.9rpg, 0.4 bpg, and 43% fgs. Another classic example of a player having a pretty good season, getting a big paycheck, then sitting fat and happy while stinking it up for his current team.
 * Jason Williams - $8,937,500 : "White Chocolate" as they used to call him. When did they start paying streetball players this kind of money? "Skip-to-my-Lou" one of the NY streetballers legends only makes $4.5M.
 * Brian Cardinal - $5,850,000 : At 6'8 you can get 9ppg and 4rpg in 21mpg by accident. And that was this power forward's best season. He has been injury-prone and balding ever since.
 * Kenny Thomas - $7,875,000 : At least Billy King wised up enough to dump this dead weight.
 * Speedy Claxton - $6,306,182 : This draft pick of the Sixers always baffled me. You have A.I., the BEST shoot-first little man EVER, and you go draft a vastly-worse shoot-first small guard from Hofstra? Just doesn't make any sense.

With deals like these going around, my future kid is definitely growing up to be a ball player.

If I missed an NBA bum that you think deserves to be on the list, please let me know.

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