It is the Month of July and NBA free agency has started. With start of free agency some of your favorite players maybe going to a different team, players will be traded and players will be getting contracts worth astronomical amounts of money. Well, that is the perception associated with NBA contracts.
As of today, Stephen Curry has been offered an NBA contract worth over $200 million for five years. Most people will say this a lot of money to play the game of basketball. I would agree this is a lot of money but there is a general agreement Stephen is worth this money. One has to consider the excitement, ticket sales, wins and championships that he brings to the organizations. People will debate whether or not other players deserve the amount of money they are being paid. I say it does not matter someone is willing to pay them.
My point to all this is to say how much do the owners make each season? Players’ salaries are listed everywhere, it is very easy to see how much each player makes and the length of their contract. I have done some reach but I am unable to find any recent information on how much the owners make each season from the NBA. I am not saying the information is not out there but I know this information is not easily accessible. If an owner is willing to pay out $100 million in salary each year and some pay more than that plus luxury tax one has to wonder how much are they making in profit. Being an NBA owner has to be lucrative because the return on investment is good, it is an exclusive club and people are lining up to become an owner.
I say all of this to say instead of judging how much a player makes and how much a player deserves to make we should be looking at it as there are no losers in the NBA. The NBA has become in my opinion the most popular American professional sports league, unlike other sports professional basketball players are recognized around the world. The money associated with the sport is secondary to the entertainment. For the players get your money and as Cuba Gooding said in Jerry McGuire “Show Me the Money.”
