Yeah it is obscene, the disparity of wealth in the US and Australia is appalling. how a person who plays a sport they love can make that much money, while so many remain unemployed, underemployed or work jobs with long hours and low pay is question the NBA just doesn't care about...NBA cares...about itself.

Definitely interested in seeing the top 50 career money earners and seeing if they deserve what they made.

I look after disadvantaged youth giving them a life their parents decided not to...$45k a year. Sports is a bloody joke.

For boom patrol

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/711373-nba-power-rankings-shaq-and-the-top-career-earners-in-nba-history/page/2

Some interesting ones on there (Big Z at number 21???)

just plain stupid.

teams fork out millions in salaries and guess who pays them??

fans.

ive heard stories about how expensive it is to go to some of these games. want to see your team?? well if your middle class then i hope you have great eyesight to see it from way back. just dont bet on your healthcare to fix your bad eyes either. your tax dollars are better spent in iraq.

dumbshits.

fiba should've put a global cap on salaries.

Unfortunately it's a viscous cycle though guys and the AFL are learning this pretty quickly too.
Fans want to see a winning side and star players. So if you don't attract these players with big bucks your attendance numbers will drop, therefore you are going to lose money not only in ticket sales but merchandise, so you end up paying the big dollars to retain or recruit the star players.
Have a think about it...how many Charlotte Bobcats singlets do you see kids wearing?
How many LeBron James or Derrick Rose or even KG singlets do you see being worn??!!

Thanks celtic green!
Proof money doesn't always equal championships, some players really undeserving on that list!

@LanceUppercut, Why stop @ Garnett? Why not just make all rich people share their money equally over every citizen? Why not let all NBA players (indeed ALL US citizens) get paid the same regardless of skill, experience and demand?

@Uhh...$45k a year, my condolences. However YOU made the career choice, KNOWING how much that career pays, yet now you see fit to call out someone else for being paid millions?

How about you learn to anchor the defence of a Eastern Conference Finalist then we'll re-compare the gap between you and KG.

I HATE people who spout comments about others being overpaid, all the while not knowing what it takes to get to where they are. Too willing are they to invalidate :

- The Commitment.
- The Training.
- The Self Drive.
- The Endeavour.

Yet happy to 'settle’ on their $45k lives and speak sh!t on the internet.

The NBA system produces this kind of money. Why shouldn't the players be compensated accordingly?

If your business turned over $1b a year, wouldn't your employees expect high remuneration?

I don't blame Garnett for only making the conference finals once; his team-mates where usually pretty crap. A badly run organisation in my mind.
But guys like Mcgrady and Vince; uhhhh. Lack of heart and effort, makes me sick. As much as I hate Kobe for being a ballhog at least you know he would kill himself to get the win. And that's what fans want to see

I'm a social worker who earns $65,000 a year. The money is okay but is hardly big bucks. I don't doubt Kevin Garnett is a good guy but I also don't doubt that, given our different careers, I do more social good in a week that he does in a year. But, given the funding arrangements of where I work, Garnett pulls in more money for his employer in one day than I probably do in several years.

But no one gets paid based on how much social good they do. People get paid market value and it's pointless complaining about it. The entire economic system of capitalism is based on that one assumption - you get paid your market value. I accept an elite athlete has a much greater market value than I do as a social worker.

Is it fair? No. Should it be fair? Probably not.

If he had any sense of perspective Garnett should have taken minimum wage and gone back to Minnesota and let them build around him for a champinship run. One of the reasons his team was so average in Minnesota despite his ability was the inability of the team to keep or get other great players.

I also read once he doesn't tip pizza delivery drivers.

Tweet Tweet, agree. Although I would say that Social Workers economic value to their respective employees, that being the community to be substantial, especially given those affects may take years to actuate.