Post by eric on Aug 17, 2016 13:31:52 GMT -6
1956 Bob Cousy $25,000
The further back we go the sketchier the history gets, but this is the first real firm value I can find, because...
1959 Wilt Chamberlain $30,000
The Big Dipper got a bigger deal as a rookie. His lack of will to win killer instinct proved to everyone that you can't give rookies too much too soon, and the NBA never gave out a big rookie contract after that.
1965 Bill Russell $100,001
Demanded from GM Red Auerbach when he (Russell) heard that Wilt Chamberlain had a contract worth $100,000. Typical of his generation of players, he cared more about $s and public acclaim than Ws. Cousy never would have done that.
1967 Wilt Chamberlain $250,000
This is the point where the ABA starts to become a factor. Coming off his MVP champion season, Wilt was up for a new contract and had previously claimed one of the 76ers owners had agreed to give him 25% of the team after he (Wilt) retired. That owner had since died and the remaining owner said "nah", which Wilt was not terribly enthused by. Threatening to jump to the ABA, he eventually got the big bucks. Russell would have got it in writing.
1969 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 5 yrs $1.4m or $1m
Details are sketchy on this one. Some sources have it at $1m, others $1.4m. Either way it was the first million dollar contract in NBA history, and he accepted it when the ABA infamously low balled him with their first bid, even though it meant living in Milwaukee, an experience he knew would be miserable. Wilt never would have let his pride get in the way of business.
1970 Pete Maravich 5 yrs $1.9m
The bizarre sock fixation was evident even in articles announcing the Pistol's rookie deal. This is the second and last white guy to appear on the list, although there obviously were more before the White Houdini of the Hardwood, and the only one to my knowledge where a competing offer included a string of fast food restaurants. Kareem's would have been halal.
1975 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 5 yrs $3.1m
For reasons that aren't entirely clear to me Kareem's next deal came six years after his first, rather than five, but in any event he forced his way out of Milwaukee so he could go not even reach the Finals in LA until Magic showed up. The Bucks received the immortal Brain Winters in the trade which set the stage for a run of very goodness in the 80s. Even though he had to live in a city almost as bad as Milwaukee Pistol never demanded a trade.
1978 David Thompson 5 yrs $3.75m
The last ripple effect of the ABA, Thompson opted out of his ABA deal in order to cash in in a big way. He rewarded the team with still the single best season in Nuggets history, then got high, fell down the Studio 54 stairs, and so thoroughly ruined the rest of his career that he'd be traded for Bill Hanzlik and a first. Kareem never would have fooled around with celebrities.
1981 Magic Johnson 25 yrs $25m
Not only the biggest contract in NBA history at the time, but the biggest contract in all of sports, narrowly surpassing Dave Winfield's 10 yrs $24m deal. Emboldened by the deal, the petty youngster chafed at Championship winning head coach Paul Westhead and eleven scant games into the season publicly demanded a trade, resulting in Westhead being fired the next day. Skywalker never would have forced his coach out.
1987 David Robinson 6 yrs $26m
Flag rank has its benefits. The surprising thing about the Admiral's deal was that he was still allowed to play in the 88 Olympics, even though he received some of the money up front. This lack of pure amateurism probably caused the infamous failure there, and he would never reach the gold of Olympia or Larry O'Brienonia without being carried by the greatest power forwards in history: Charles Barkley and Tim Duncan respectively. Magic dragged the Big Airplane up and down the court for 48 minutes.
1991 Patrick Ewing 6 yrs $33m
He got a lot of money and never delivered a championship to New York. You have to give the Knicks this much, they at least learned from their mistakes. Robinson never would have choked in the Finals.
1993 Larry Johnson 12 yrs $84m
A name I never would have guessed would be on this list, Grandmama swung a contract comical both for its heft and its length. Friction with teammate Alonzo Mourning (who would later receive the first nine figure deal in history) would result in both being traded for a combined haul of Glen Rice, Brad Lohaus, Anthony Mason, Matt Geiger, Khalid Reeves, and a 1st rounder that became Tony Delk.
Ewing never would have made that continuation.
1996 Shaquille O'Neal 7 yrs $120m
Now we start getting into the big boy contracts. Not coincidentally this happened in the offseason with the single biggest percentage increase in the salary cap ever. Unfortunately it turned out the button down atmosphere of small town Orlando had been keeping the not so gentle giant in line, and he promptly began fighting with opponents, feuding with teammates, playing at general manager, and in general acting a fool. Larry Johnson never would have signed onto Kazaam.
1999 Kevin Garnett 6 yrs $126m
Caused the lockout. Shaq never shut down the whole league.
2003 Jermaine O'Neal 7 yrs $126.6m
Malicious. He played hard but Garnett never punched a fan.
2004 Kobe Bryant 7 yrs $136m
Rewarded for sabotaging the greatest championship run of all time, at least a thousand times greater than the Bulls Celtics and Showtime combined. Literally broke into Chris Paul's house and stole the 2008 MVP, traumatizing Lil Kevin Love for life. Singlehandedly transformed the wholesome town of Los Angeles into a wretched hive of scum, villainy and late night SportsCenter. Jermaine never would have... okay yeah he would. He would have done those things.
2016 Mike Conley 5 yrs $153m
Absolutely deserved, and in obvious contrast to those preps to pros with no concept of paying their dues. Mike Conley just knows how to win the game the right way if OBP was so important why isn't it on basketball-reference.com. No surprise that his Lawrence North High Wildcat and An Ohio State University Buckeye teammate Greg Oden has matched Kevin Durant's championship totals. Fun fact: Conley was born nine months and negative one year after Pete Maravich died. Kobe was never the reincarnated soul of the all time college scoring leader.
The further back we go the sketchier the history gets, but this is the first real firm value I can find, because...
1959 Wilt Chamberlain $30,000
The Big Dipper got a bigger deal as a rookie. His lack of will to win killer instinct proved to everyone that you can't give rookies too much too soon, and the NBA never gave out a big rookie contract after that.
1965 Bill Russell $100,001
Demanded from GM Red Auerbach when he (Russell) heard that Wilt Chamberlain had a contract worth $100,000. Typical of his generation of players, he cared more about $s and public acclaim than Ws. Cousy never would have done that.
1967 Wilt Chamberlain $250,000
This is the point where the ABA starts to become a factor. Coming off his MVP champion season, Wilt was up for a new contract and had previously claimed one of the 76ers owners had agreed to give him 25% of the team after he (Wilt) retired. That owner had since died and the remaining owner said "nah", which Wilt was not terribly enthused by. Threatening to jump to the ABA, he eventually got the big bucks. Russell would have got it in writing.
1969 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 5 yrs $1.4m or $1m
Details are sketchy on this one. Some sources have it at $1m, others $1.4m. Either way it was the first million dollar contract in NBA history, and he accepted it when the ABA infamously low balled him with their first bid, even though it meant living in Milwaukee, an experience he knew would be miserable. Wilt never would have let his pride get in the way of business.
1970 Pete Maravich 5 yrs $1.9m
The bizarre sock fixation was evident even in articles announcing the Pistol's rookie deal. This is the second and last white guy to appear on the list, although there obviously were more before the White Houdini of the Hardwood, and the only one to my knowledge where a competing offer included a string of fast food restaurants. Kareem's would have been halal.
1975 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 5 yrs $3.1m
For reasons that aren't entirely clear to me Kareem's next deal came six years after his first, rather than five, but in any event he forced his way out of Milwaukee so he could go not even reach the Finals in LA until Magic showed up. The Bucks received the immortal Brain Winters in the trade which set the stage for a run of very goodness in the 80s. Even though he had to live in a city almost as bad as Milwaukee Pistol never demanded a trade.
1978 David Thompson 5 yrs $3.75m
The last ripple effect of the ABA, Thompson opted out of his ABA deal in order to cash in in a big way. He rewarded the team with still the single best season in Nuggets history, then got high, fell down the Studio 54 stairs, and so thoroughly ruined the rest of his career that he'd be traded for Bill Hanzlik and a first. Kareem never would have fooled around with celebrities.
1981 Magic Johnson 25 yrs $25m
Not only the biggest contract in NBA history at the time, but the biggest contract in all of sports, narrowly surpassing Dave Winfield's 10 yrs $24m deal. Emboldened by the deal, the petty youngster chafed at Championship winning head coach Paul Westhead and eleven scant games into the season publicly demanded a trade, resulting in Westhead being fired the next day. Skywalker never would have forced his coach out.
1987 David Robinson 6 yrs $26m
Flag rank has its benefits. The surprising thing about the Admiral's deal was that he was still allowed to play in the 88 Olympics, even though he received some of the money up front. This lack of pure amateurism probably caused the infamous failure there, and he would never reach the gold of Olympia or Larry O'Brienonia without being carried by the greatest power forwards in history: Charles Barkley and Tim Duncan respectively. Magic dragged the Big Airplane up and down the court for 48 minutes.
1991 Patrick Ewing 6 yrs $33m
He got a lot of money and never delivered a championship to New York. You have to give the Knicks this much, they at least learned from their mistakes. Robinson never would have choked in the Finals.
1993 Larry Johnson 12 yrs $84m
A name I never would have guessed would be on this list, Grandmama swung a contract comical both for its heft and its length. Friction with teammate Alonzo Mourning (who would later receive the first nine figure deal in history) would result in both being traded for a combined haul of Glen Rice, Brad Lohaus, Anthony Mason, Matt Geiger, Khalid Reeves, and a 1st rounder that became Tony Delk.
Ewing never would have made that continuation.1996 Shaquille O'Neal 7 yrs $120m
Now we start getting into the big boy contracts. Not coincidentally this happened in the offseason with the single biggest percentage increase in the salary cap ever. Unfortunately it turned out the button down atmosphere of small town Orlando had been keeping the not so gentle giant in line, and he promptly began fighting with opponents, feuding with teammates, playing at general manager, and in general acting a fool. Larry Johnson never would have signed onto Kazaam.
1999 Kevin Garnett 6 yrs $126m
Caused the lockout. Shaq never shut down the whole league.
2003 Jermaine O'Neal 7 yrs $126.6m
Malicious. He played hard but Garnett never punched a fan.
2004 Kobe Bryant 7 yrs $136m
Rewarded for sabotaging the greatest championship run of all time, at least a thousand times greater than the Bulls Celtics and Showtime combined. Literally broke into Chris Paul's house and stole the 2008 MVP, traumatizing Lil Kevin Love for life. Singlehandedly transformed the wholesome town of Los Angeles into a wretched hive of scum, villainy and late night SportsCenter. Jermaine never would have... okay yeah he would. He would have done those things.
2016 Mike Conley 5 yrs $153m
Absolutely deserved, and in obvious contrast to those preps to pros with no concept of paying their dues. Mike Conley just knows how to win the game the right way if OBP was so important why isn't it on basketball-reference.com. No surprise that his Lawrence North High Wildcat and An Ohio State University Buckeye teammate Greg Oden has matched Kevin Durant's championship totals. Fun fact: Conley was born nine months and negative one year after Pete Maravich died. Kobe was never the reincarnated soul of the all time college scoring leader.
