How Much Would You Pay Not To Live In Dallas?
The price of freedom is a huge paycut. Plus, an ode to Yao, and more.
OPENING TIP
As we mentioned recently, the NBA Playoffs have come to resemble a traveling MASH unit. Kyrie Irving’s untimely ankle injury, coming close on the heels of James Harden’s hurt hamstring, has allowed the Bucks to recover from two poor performances to even the series. Joel Embiid’s knee issues let the Hawks take a close one in Atlanta last night to get back to 2-2. And Mike Conley’s absence in LA let the Clippers take two straight. At this rate, Giannis is going to pull off a Katniss Everdeen and hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy by merely outlasting his rivals.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks season is over, but the hits in Dallas just keep on coming. After the failure of pretty much every non-Slovenian wonderboy on the roster to show up for the last five games of that series, speculation was rife that Luka was becoming discontented.
The lack of support made no less than Bill Simmons wonder if Luka would become the first rookie to turn down a max extension offer to become a free agent. Luka moved quickly to nip that one in the bud:
But things just wouldn’t stay nipped. A bombshell Athletic article broke the story that Luka’s relationship with influential Dallas staff member / cryptocurrency evangelist Haralabos Voulgaris (‘HaralaBob’ for fans of hardcore gambling podcasts over the years) was bad and getting worse.
Okay then. Seems like it’s time for STL to look and just what it would take for Luka, or someone like him, to walk away from that first big extension.
The current CBA allows a team to start a contract extension for a rookie at up to 25 percent of the salary cap (commonly referred to as a “max contract,” an umbrella term used for a bunch of different cases that all amount to the most a team can pay a player under salary cap rules). In Luka’s case, Dallas could actually treat him as a “Designated Player” and go up to 30 percent of the cap, because he’s made two All-NBA teams. The rule was collectively bargained to make it easier for teams to keep their franchise stars, and it’s done a brilliant job so far. No one has walked.
But it’s going to be tested again soon. At the end of the season, the 2018 Draft class (headlined by Luka and Trae Young) will be extension eligible. The year after, Ja Morant and Zion Williamson. Then Lamelo Ball and Anthony Edwards. Luka and Trae are in promising basketball situations in large-ish markets, but Zion, Morant, and Lamelo? That gets more interesting. How long would it take for Zion to become the most popular Knick ever? A playoff run? A weekend? How would Ja’s explosive game look in a Bulls uniform?
But while exchanging a Memphis zip code for the environs of Lower Manhattan may sound appealing, it’s going to be expensive. We ran the numbers on what Luka would be giving up if he walked away from a Designated Player Extension with the Mavs and signed the largest allowable contract elsewhere (at 25% of the projected 2023-24 salary cap, with 5% raises).
Turns out it would cost Luka $57 million dollars.
That’s… a lot of first class flights back home to Ljubljana. But even basketball situation aside, the math isn’t quite that simple. There are regional endorsements, which look significantly better in major markets. There is national profile. There’s that next Adidas-Nike bidding war… how much might that kind of exposure be worth?
Fortunately, our friends at Sportico collect data on this. We analyzed the league’s top 30 highest paid players and their endorsement earnings to try to understand how big of an advantage being in a big market can be.
The results are interesting. The players with the biggest endorsement dollars do tend to be in major markets. But it’s not like the markets are what made those players; LeBron and KD both chose their markets long after they’d cemented their fame while toiling in the NBA hinterlands. And players #5 and #6 on the list, Giannis and Zion, both play in two of the NBA’s smallest markets.
Perhaps the bigger differences are for the fringier “stars.” D’Angelo Russell somehow earns $6M a year in endorsements, perhaps parlaying his stints in LA, Brooklyn and San Francisco into fame despite his (relatively) modest talents, while Khris Middleton earns a mere $500k a year in endorsements despite being a clearly superior player.
So it doesn’t make much sense for obvious stars like Luka, Zion or Ja to bolt; they can get paid right where they are. But lesser stars seeking the limelight may indeed find “greener” pastures elsewhere.
TWEET OF (LAST) WEEK
If you were concerned that Magic Johnson might not be applying his keen basketball insight to the Lakers anymore, worry not:
STL REMEMBERS: YAO MING
This year’s playoffs has seen the revenge of the Big. Centers went 1-2 in MVP voting, and between Jokic, Embiid, AD, and Giannis, bigs are back to dominating like the good ol’ days (almost). It all brings to mind an STL favorite, the biggest big.
When they called Yao Ming “the greatest Chinese basketball prospect of all time,” it was a little hard to get really excited. He was tall. He looked, let’s face it, a little like Frankenstein’s Monster. It seemed like he could shoot. But there were reservations. This is from Yao’s ESPN scouting profile going into the 2002 draft:
Yao may weigh upwards of 290 pounds, but moving him out of the post could be easier for the stronger centers in the NBA. It might take him time to adjust to American basketball and the language barrier could become an issue for teammates and coaches.
Inexperience is another problem in that he hasn’t really faced loads of competition at his position.
Then Yao arrived in the NBA. There was still some skepticism. Charles Barkley announced on national TV that, “if Yao Ming scores 19 points in a game this season, I will kiss his ass.”
Shaq was asked before his first meeting with Yao what we should expect: “Get the popcorn ready,” was all he would say.
Then that game started. First possession, Shaq took it down low… and got blocked. So he went at him on the second possession… and got stuffed again. By the time Yao had rejected O’Neal’s first three shots, people were re-evaluating in a hurry.
What about Sir Charles? Did Yao ever reach those 19 points he was talking about? He did, actually. 252 times.
What about those scouting reports? Did he have trouble integrating with American teammates? Here is Steve Francis, Houston’s star in Yao’s first year: My Brother Yao.
One of the stipulations in Yao’s transfer agreement was that he return to play basketball in China each offseason, and the non-stop schedule took a toll on his body, ending his career too early. He would have to settle for 8 All-Star appearances, 5 All-NBA teams, and a Hall of Fame induction.
Today, STL remembers Yao Ming. We recommend that you watch this video, and then try his award-winning Napa Valley Cab.
AT THE BUZZER
Dust ruffle named ‘Wasabi’ wins best in show (CNN)
The Paris Review goes deep on Basketball Shoes (Paris Review)
Why we will never really be done with Marv Albert (The Ringer)
Be very careful buying bootleg shirts on the streets of Atlanta (Twitter)
Trail Blazers defect to ROOT, foretelling future RSN carnage (Sportico)