by Scott
Thanks to the moves they made this off-season, the Brooklyn Nets no longer have to deal with an injury-ridden Gerald Wallace taking up their three spot or the one-dimensional Reggie Evans starting at the four. Instead, they can rely on a pair of experienced hall of famers in Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to try and lead them to the promised land. And to add to that, they picked up former sixth man of the year Jason Terry, as well as defensive stopper Andrei Kirilenko to fill out their experienced bench.
However, their big-time additions didn’t come cheap.
According to HOOPSWORLD, the Nets currently have $102.2 million committed to their roster for this upcoming season. But to add to that already hefty sum of money, owner Mikhail Prokhorov will have to splash another $80 million in luxury tax alone, bringing their total payroll to around $182 million. As you may have already guessed, no team in the history of the NBA has ever spent that much on a 15-man roster.
For comparisons sake, here are the payrolls for some other teams this season, before tax:
- Miami Heat: $80,285,090
- Chicago Bulls: $80,011,160
- New York Knicks: $78,435,648
- L.A. Lakers: $76,074,444
- Toronto Raptors: $72,762,065
The crazy thing about all of this is that the Nets’ projected starting five of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Brook Lopez will combine to make $81,492,650 next season. That’s more than the entire payroll of every single team in the NBA and is nearly double the current payroll of the Philadelphia 76ers.
So what’s the point I’m trying to make here? Well, the Nets are projected by many to have home-court advantage when April rolls around, yet they are also projected to get nothing higher than the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, thanks to the on-going development of a young Indiana Pacers squad, as well as the return of Derrick Rose to the Chicago Bulls. So that $182 million may buy them nothing more than a bitter taste in their mouths when they get get knocked out in the second round of the Playoffs at the hands of the reigning champions, Miami Heat.
That’s just my opinion, though. I guess we’ll just have to give it a few more months to see if Prokhorov spent his money wisely.
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Read more at HOOPSWORLD.