Not better than a deal in Greece. The Greek clubs still have about 3-4 times bigger budgets than Prokom does.

thats not really a fair indication on averages given two of the clubs account for more than 50% of all wages paid! Any source on where you got these numbers from?

They used to. You obviously havent researched Greece for a while.

The MINIMUM player salary in the Greek League is 45,000 euro net income, or 56,700 US dollars net income.

I am a bit perplexed at how the "average income" can be $50,000 US, when the MINIMUM salary is actually $56,700 US?

The minimum gross salary is 72,580 euros or 91,451 in US dollars.

So if the minimum net salary in the Greek league is 56,700 US and the minimum gross salary is 91, 452 - then how in the hell is the "average" salary for a Greek player only 50,000 US?

That's REALLY perplexing. Especially, when like 90% of the rotation players of the league, on teams other than Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, make between 50,000 to 100,000 euros net income per season.

Bottom line, that Sports Illustrated article is a LIE. PERIOD.

Oh and actually, the budgets of most Greek clubs WENT UP since the economic crises, not down. The only clubs' budgets that went down were ones like Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Aris.

The other club's budgets either stayed the same, or went up, in fact almost all of their budgets went up.

Because.............since the economic crises the tax rates were changed, from 20% to 45$ to generate more revenues. So the clubs have to pay double in taxes, and the clubs in Greece pay the taxes for all their players (Greek and foreign).

So actually, genius, the budgets WENT UP, not down, due to a huge increase in tax costs.

So, you and Sports Illustrated might want to research Greece a little more, since you clearly have no clue what you are talking about.

So you're pretending that despite the economic crisis the clubs magically found more money! Stop embarrassing yourself.

Taxes going up meant teams paid players less net income because they had to cover more tax cuts. There isn't any money!

------------------------------------------------

Harvard-educated owner Costi Zombanakis fears it may be too late. "The Greek league is just a reflection of what's going on in Greece. It's falling apart," he said. "Today, we're in an extremely precarious situation because the owners don't have money."

The rate for athletes making more than about $130,000 has shot up from 21 percent to 45. Most teams can no long cover those taxes, says Alex Politis, a player agent in Athens. He says average salaries for foreign players have dropped by as much as 70 percent.

Alex Politis: And I suppose if it won't stay the same, it will go even lower next season. And I can't really predict what will happen after that.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/greek-basketball-league-post-debt-crisis

Those days of what Wilkins in a 1998 interview called living "like a king" are over, according to Stefanou, the agent in Athens.

“Now teams will be asking the players to contribute to their living costs,” Stefanou said. “If the players want a bigger house, they will have to pay for it themselves.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/sports/basketball/26iht-BASKET.html?_r=1

by 2002 it was obvious that the party would soon be over. That was the last season where the Greek League was truly competitive

http://euro-step.net/2012/08/crisis-management-the-greek-way/

The Greek Players Unions, PSAK, has released a list of all Greek A1 teams in terms of them paying their players. Just two clubs have paid all their players to the cent while there is a team which has not paid its players for six months.

http://www.talkbasket.net/5815-best-and-worst-paying-greek-clubs.html

The current minimum salary in the Greek League is 50,000 euros net income for all players 26 and up.

It's 21,800 euros net income for all players 22-25.

It's 15,000 euros net income for all players 18-21.

The Sports Illustrated article is a complete lie and fiction. It's not even possible.

That article is TOTALLY FALSE.

The MINIMUM salary for players 26 and older is currently 50,000 euros net income.

And in case you wonder, for the teams other than Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, the average American salary is 80,000 euros net income.

Bottom line, anyone that believes the claims in that Sports Illustrated article is a moron.

Definition of a moron:

a) Anyone who thinks Greek basketball teams budgets have gone up while their country is going through one of the biggest financial meltdowns the world has seen in modern times.

b) Anyone who thinks a 'minimum wage' means anything when only a very small proportion of clubs pay their players what is on their contract.