Horford top paid NBA Gator
One of the byproducts of Florida’s success under head coach Billy Donovan has been the ability for players to move on to the NBA.
It’s a selling point in recruiting. And Donovan has made sure that his players haven’t just gotten to the NBA, but stayed there as well.
There are currently 10 Florida players on NBA rosters. Four are on their second contracts and three more (Matt Bonner, Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller) are on their third contracts.
Here’s a list of Florida player salaries in the NBA in 2011-12 from highest to lowest. Not surprisingly, NBA All-Stars Al Horford and David Lee top the list. The salary information is courtesy of the NBA player’s association website.
1. Al Horford, Atlanta Hawks, $12 million
2. David Lee, Golden State Warriors, $11.61 million
3. Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls, $10 million
4. Mike Miller, Miami Heat, $5.4 million
5. Udonis Haslem, Miami Heat, $3.7 million
6. Matt Bonner, San Antonio Spurs, $3.315 million
7. Corey Brewer, Denver Nuggets, $3.059 million
8. Marreese Speights, Memphis Grizzlies, $2,721,254
9. Chandler Parsons, Houston Rockets, $850,000
10. Vernon Macklin, Detroit Pistons, $473,824
Kevin Brockway gave up on his dream of becoming a lefty starting pitcher for the New York Mets when he walked four straight batters, then hit one in a middle school game in Suffern, N.Y. Since graduating college in 1993, he’s worked as a sports writer at daily newspapers throughout the state of Florida, beginning with the Key West Citizen. He then moved on to the Northwest Florida Daily News and Naples Daily News before becoming the men’s basketball writer for The Gainesville Sun in 2003. Brockway has won multiple state and national writing awards during his 16-year career. Favorite pastimes include karaoke and watching baseball. Favorite college hoops team growing up was St. John’s.
It’s amazing these kids are hauling down this kind of dough. Granted, it’s a short career, but still astounding money for having a great time…. Hard to believe Haslem is any less valuable than Horford (one man’s opinion), or that Noah is paid that much more than Matt Bonner, Mr. Consistent. Must have better agents, I figure, or maybe some teams just have more money to spend?
by rick stevens
Haslem took a paycut to stay in Miami, and Bonner is a role player while Noah is an All-Star caliber starter
by kevin
I’m proud of our guys. More power to them if they can take the league for everything they can get, because the league will use them for every minute they can wring out of them….
by BSJGator
[...] list. The salary information is courtesy of the NBA player's association website. Read more on Gatorsports.com (blog) This entry was posted in Basketball and tagged guard, Military, Olympic, qualifiers, stars by [...]
by Military to guard NBA stars at Olympic qualifiers | Hatching News
At this stage in their careers, make no mistake, Horford is indeed simply MUCH more valuable than Halsem. He is a top center in the NBA (yes, he is a center)–after Howard and Bynum, it is pretty slim pickings as far as NBA centers go.
by Diego
Before Coach D got here the Gator NBA list was one guy per decade. It’s great having so many great guys and ball players in the big dance. These guys also get huge road game per diems and many other perks. Hopefully the NBA pipeline continues.
by Hank