Do Players Not Get Paid for the Playoffs?

[Nash Attack]

Does anyone know about this? After the Amare/Diaw suspensions, I heard that they would lose their paycheck for 1 game next year because they had already been paid their contract amount for 06/07 out. So I'm assuming, hearing this, the players are playing in the playoffs for fun? This seems silly since this is the players job. If a player didn't really like the game, but they were talented, what incentive would they have to win in the playoffs?

So if a player gets in a fight game 1, and gets suspended for the entire playoffs, and their team plays 7 games all the way through the finals (28 total games), does this mean that player loses 28/82nd of their entire next years contract?

 

[dodie53]

i have no idea..

maybe someone here can answer your question..

 

[scotsman13]

for teams that go to the playoffs there is a pool of money. for each round that they pass they get a greater share of that money. the teams split that money up to their players.

 

[Nash Attack]

I found this article:

http://dberri.wordpress.com/2007/05/06/for-the-love-of-the-game-wow-edition/


For the Love of the Game
One of the enduring images in NBA playoff history is Willis Reed walking down the tunnel before game seven of the 1970 NBA Finals. In game five of that series Reed suffered a torn muscle in his thigh. This injury kept him out of game six, which the LA Lakers easily won by 22 points. Given the Lakers dominance in game six, it seemed unlikely that the Knicks could prevail in the deciding contest. Yet just before tip-off, though, Reed limped out on to the court. Playing on only one good leg, Reed’s efforts inspired the New York Knicks to their first NBA Championship.
Reed was the MVP of the 1969-70 season, his sixth season in the league. For his efforts he was paid $135,000. In today’s dollars, this is about $715,000. Certainly this is a good living, but relative to the money in today’s NBA, Reed was not paid very well. The average NBA player earns $4 million a year. A six year veteran earns more than $900,000, or more than Reed earned in his MVP season of 1969-70.
Looking back on Reed’s heroics one might wonder if today’s players would make the same sacrifice. The money basketball players make today leads some to question the player’s motives. Are the players playing for the love of the game, or for the love of money? If it is love of money, can we ever expect to see one of today’s players hobble out on one leg for the good of his team?
The NBA paid its players $1.8 billion this year. This works out to $4 million per player. And if a player plays all 82 games, about $50,000 per contest. But there is a little known fact to consider as we enjoy the 2007 NBA playoffs. The entire $1.8 billion has already been paid to the players. Players in the NBA are only paid for the regular season. The playoffs, which will last for two months, are strictly unpaid overtime.
Well, its not entirely unpaid. There is a pool of money the NBA gives its teams. The entire pool is $10 million. And no, that is not $10 million per player. It is $10 million for every team. And this money is split not just across the players, but also given to coaches and staff employed by each team.
This $10 million is allocated according to where a team finished in the regular season, and also how far the team advances in the playoffs. In looking at this pool it is important to separate those factors that are determined by regular season performance – where the players were paid $1.8 billion in salary – and playoff performance, where players are paid out of the pool.
Team’s earn bonuses for having the best record in the league, the conference, or one of the top six records in each conference. Teams also are paid for appearing in the first round. It is important to note that the first round money is not about succeeding in the first round. The Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Washington Wizards each lost all four games in the first round and were eliminated. These teams will all get the same bonus earned by the Rockets who lost in seven.
The pool allocated for place of finish and the first round is $4.3 million. Again, teams earn this because of what they did in the regular season, not for performing in the playoffs.
Once we move past the first round teams are starting to earn their allocation from the post-season pool. For participating in the conference semi-finals a team will be paid $177,579. If this money was divided among the 15 players on the roster, each player would take home less than $12,000. Given that a team must play at least 8 games to collect the money, per game each player is earning less than $1,500.
If a team makes it to the conference finals, a bonus of $293, 447 is earned. Again at least four more games have to be played. Still, the per game payment increases to about $2,600.
Taking the conference championship lands a team in the NBA Finals. The losing team in the Finals earns a bonus of $1.17 million. The winning team takes home $1.77 million.
If we put together the pay-out to the conference semi-finals, conference finals, and NBA Finals, we see that an NBA champion earns a bonus of $2.2 million.
To earn this money, though, a team must play a minimum of 16 contests. So per game, this is only $140,123. Again, this gets divided among the players, coaches, and staff. If it is just divided across 15 players, that works out to only $9.342 per game.
What if you win the title but take the maximum 28 games to accomplish this feat? Now your per game payment is only $5,338, or about 10% of what an average player earns per game in the regular season.
To put this in perspective, again we note that the minimum wage in the NBA for a six year veteran is $932,015. Per game, this works out to $11,366 across an 82 game schedule.
What does all this mean?
Players are not paid much – by NBA standards – to play in the playoffs. Yet we still see Lamar Odom playing with a hyper extended elbow and torn shoulder cartilage. Jason Kidd is playing with a bruised left knee. Dwyane Wade rushed back to action with a dislocated shoulder.
Why did these players put their bodies on the line in the playoffs? As we see, its not about the money. Just like Willis Reed 37 years ago, players today are still playing for the love of the game.
Well, that was the column. Let me know what you think. Although I don’t have time at the moment to respond to all the comments, I enjoy reading these. Hopefully I will be back to regular posting by the end of the week. At least, that’s my plan.
- DJ

 

[dreamcastrocks]

it is hard to read an entire article in bold.

 

[dodie53]

nice find nash attack..

 

[Chris_Sanders]

it is hard to read an entire article in bold.

I fixed it.

 

[greensborohill]

Basically it says that players get paid $10 a game in the playoffs.

 

[Nash Attack]

I fixed it.

Thank you!

 

[Errntknght]

The players might guess that performing well in the playoffs makes the owners/GMs more inclined to pay them higher salaries, don't ya think?

 

[elindholm]

I guess we aren't supposed to comment on these things, but the grammar is terrible. I have a difficult time being interested in the analysis of someone who can't bother to learn when and how to use an apostrophe-S.

 

[Errntknght]

Eric,

I have a difficult time being interested in the analysis of someone who can't bother to learn when and how to use an apostrophe-S.

I'm not going to say a word...