NBA is one of the best paid leagues in the world of sports.
Every year contracts get bigger, average players get paid more and as NBA fans we can only
roll our eyes and think how did that player get that contract.
But not everyone gets paid what he deserves.
The league is full of gems in every position - good players that are looking for a new
chance or had a bad reputation in their old team.
Hello everyone.
I’m PRPLPRNCH and Today we are looking at 7 very good NBA players who make less than
$10 million per year playing basketball.
On this list, I won’t include players on rookie contracts, or players who are on their
last legs.
Let’s start!
Rajon Rondo is one of the best pure passers in NBA history.
His vision is great and he always gets his teammates involved.
In large part, that is because he is not a good shooter himself, but great passing point
guards have always been a necessity in today’s NBA.
Rondo is a 1-time champion , a 4x NBA All-Star and has led the league in assists three times.
He was also once regarded as one of the best defenders at his position.
Last year, Rondo played for the New Orleans Pelicans, and was great.
In just 26 minutes per game he averaged 8.2 assists and 4 rebounds as a point guard.
He was a very important piece of the Pelicans success, but here he finds himself again on
a new team this year.
His last 2 contracts were 1-year deals for $3 and $3.3 million , and now, he is playing
for the Lakers, on a 1-year deal worth $9 million.
That’s quite a raise, but considering how important he can be for a team with his defense
and playmaking ability, $9 million seems too little for a 32-year old player still capable
of delivering.
Lou Williams had a great season last year.
After Chris Paul left and Blake Griffin got traded, Lou Williams had to take on a bigger
role on offense and boy did he ever.
He ended up having his best season to date averaging more than 22 PPG.
He even was close to making NBA All-Star game, but he made up for it by winning the NBA Sixth
Man of the Year award for the second time in his career.
Since 2008, Lou has never averaged less than double digit points for a season which is
a great accomplishment for a bench player.
But that’s the problem here - he’s a bench player and he’s always been treated like
that.
He also doesn’t play too much defense.
At just 31 years old Lou Williams is one of the best offensive players in the league,
but nonetheless in the last 5 years he’s been on 5 teams.
Williams wanted security, which is why he signed a 3-year, $24 million dollar deal with
the Clippers to stay in Los Angeles.
It’s safe to say that Clippers won the deal hands down.
It’s not easy to sign a 20+ PPG scorer for only $8 million dollars per season.
Dwight Howard has been labelled as a coach killer, bad locker room guy and a diva.
Everyone forgets though that he’s averaged a double-double for every season in his career
. Howard is a 8x NBA All-Star, 3x Defensive Player of the Year, 5x NBA rebounding leader
and 2x NBA blocks leader.
Last year for Charlotte, Dwight Howard averaged 16.6 points and 12.5 rebounds per game which
is nothing to sneeze at.
Yes, Howard is 32 and he isn’t the defensive monster he used to be in Orlando, but he’s
still a very good defensive presence.
Howard has struggled staying healthy and most notably it’s his back that’s doing the
biggest damage to his body.
In fact he hasn’t yet played for the Wizards who are definitely struggling to grab rebounds
without him.
Piling up injuries is never a good thing, but one would think that a double-double machine
and a very good center just coming off such a good and healthy season would deserve more
than 2 years and $11 million he got from the Washington Wizards.
Demarcus Cousins The basketball world was blown up when Demarcus
Cousins signed with the Golden State Warriors completing their quest for a 5 All-Star starting
lineup.
At just 28 years of age, Demarcus Cousins has already been a 4x All-star.
Cousins has averaged more than 22 PPG for 7 consecutive seasons and last year with the
New Orleans Pelicans he had averages of 25.2 points and 12.9 rebounds before suffering
a devastating injury.
Demarcus Cousins doesn’t have the best reputation among the coaches, but the key here is the
injury.
How does a 270-pound guy come back from a devastating achilles injury?
We have seen much lighter guys come back and not being the same.
There are no guarantees that he will ever be the same and that’s what scared off a
lot of teams to sign Cousins.
It was clear that Cousins was looking for a max-money deal, but injury ruined his plans.
Golden State Warriors gave him a 1 year deal worth $5.3 million dollars and while the 1-year
part of this deal is fair considering the seriousness of the injury, the amount of money
he will make next year is very small for one of the best big men in the game.
Patrick Beverley is a great example for players who don’t have as much of a god-given skill,
but still hope to play in the NBA.
The start of his NBA career was rather complicated, but he proved his worth as a Three and D point
guard and fought his way into the Houston Rockets starting lineup.
Beverley will never be mistaken as a top echelon point guard, but he’s a defensive nightmare
for opposing point guards and someone who can make a big shot if needed.
His career averages don’t scream the guy to get paid, but Beverley does the things
you don’t usually see on the box score.
He gave Lonzo Ball more than he could handle in his first NBA game, and he’s been a quality
point guard in the league for years.
Last year in a Chris Paul trade Beverley was sent to the Clippers where he managed to play
in only 11 games because of a knee injury.
The jury is still out on Beverley.
How will he look this season after arthroscopic meniscus repair and a microfracture procedure
on his right knee?
Will he be effective?When he will be fully healthy?
We will be able to answer that question as the season goes on, but in the age where lesser
point guards are getting double the money, Beverley seems severely undervalued with his
$5.5 million dollar salary he’s getting from the Clippers this year.
For a long time Brook Lopez was the face of the worst team in the league.
For the first 4 years of his career as a New Jersey Net and later as a Brooklyn Net, Brook
Lopez was the best offensive weapon on his team.
As a regular 20 PPG scorer he never could lift the team to any success.
Even when he was teammates with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry or Deron Williams
and Joe Johnson, Lopez just never was great enough to help the team win.
Last year he was a part of a new Lakers squad and since the main goal of the team was young
player development he was never used to his full potential.
Lopez ended up having the worst year of his career with averages of 13 points and 4 rebounds
and that has been the problem for his whole career.
Brook Lopez is more of a finesse player and for a 7 feet tall player he is just an average
rebounder, and also not a good defender for his size.
But if his twin brother Robin Lopez with much less offensive skills and approximately the
same rebounding numbers can get almost $14 million dollars per year from the Chicago
Bulls,
it seems that Brook Lopez got a very under-the-market contract in his $3.3 million dollar deal with
the Milwaukee Bucks.
Nerlens Noel must be kicking himself right now.
In 2017, Dallas Mavericks offered Noel a 4-year $70 million dollar contract.
Noel’s agent rejected the offer and at that time it seemed like a good decision.
Lesser players were receiving bigger contracts and Noel decided to bet on himself and possibly
receive a max contract offer down the road.
Everything didn’t turn out so great for Nerlens Noel though.
Noel was frequently injured and as a form of a punishment he also got less playing time
on the Dallas Mavericks roster.
Last year, Nerlens Noel played in only 30 games, started 6 of them and averaged only
4.4 points and 5.6 rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
The per game numbers look bad, but per 36 min numbers don’t look so awful.
Similar to Dwight Howard, Nerlens Noel is more of a defensive big guy who doesn’t
have a polished offensive game, but he can still be a great contributor with his shot-blocking
ability and defensive rotations.
This summer, Nerlens Noel signed a 2-year minimum salary deal with the Oklahoma City
Thunder to prove that he’s still a valuable asset to the team.
I’m sure he will do just that and he is only 24 years old so he has a lot more quality
years left in his NBA career.
However, it’s crazy to think that right now he could’ve been making 10 times more
money for playing basketball if he wouldn’t have turned down the Mavs offer.
He’s young, he still has time, but $1.7 million dollars, even for a still developing
center is way too little.
Thanks for watching guys.
Do you disagree with any of the players I mentioned in the video?
Can you name other players who are underpaid?
I know you know some players that are overpaid.
Whatever your thought is, leave a comment below, like this video, and SUBSCRIBE for
future NBA content.
This was PRPLPRNCH, and I’m out!