Rashard Lewis, Michael Redd, Yao Ming
- NBA’s most compensated contracts
One of the key reasons behind the National Basketball Association lockout, are the players who have bloated contracts. While players like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard fully deserve every dollar they
get, there are several players in the league, who get over paid despite of their poor performances, injuries issues and etc.
Here is a list of such players:
Rashard Lewis
The power forward Rashard Lewis of the Washington Wizards has the second premier pact of the league after Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. The 6 ft.10 participated in 57 games during the last season and scored with an average
of 11.7 points per game, which 4.6 points less than his career average. The 31 year old missed first 10 games of the regular-season due to suspension for using a banned substance and later failed to team up with Vince Carter. Rashard will make $21.1 million
if the next season takes place.
Michael Redd
Milwaukee Bucks shooting guard Michael Redd is second on the list, as the 31 year old veteran earned $18.3 million by playing just four games and spent rest of the season out of the court due to injury issue.
Redd, who signed a three year $12 million per annum contract extension with the Bucks in 2005, when he was at the peak of his career. However, Redd’s performance started declining after wards, as he struggled a lot because of his
knee injury, but still received full amount.
In the first three years of his deal with the Bucks, Redd guided them to just forty wins and during last season he sat outside the court for 21 games because of injury.
Yao Ming
Ming was the most celebrated basketball player in the history of the league. Yao was the most dominating centre, when he was at the peak of his career. However, injuries didn’t allow him to partake in most of the games.
Yao has played just 185 games since he joined NBA and $17.7 million in the last the season. He is yet another example of an injured player, who is taking a major chunk in the form of salary commitments.
Gilbert Arenas
Arenas was recently acquired by the Orlando Magic, played 70 games for the side and tallied just 10.8 points in the entire previous season, half of his career average (21.2 points per game). Prior to this the veteran had spent
most of his career with the Washington Wizards, where he struggled not just because of injuries, but also because of some off court issues as a result of which he had to face a suspension by the league.
Now the 6 ft.4 point guard will earn $17,730,694 this year with the Magic and still have three more years left in his contract with Orlando.
The list goes on as the league is full of such contracts, where the team management had over looked when it comes to such contracts, as a result of which the franchises had to face huge losses and 22 teams which are in red, decided
to bring balance with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that disrupted the whole system and brought the league to work stoppage.
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