This list is pretty much the usual suspects. But Joe Johnson, really? Although I am relieved to see Rashard Lewis off of this list. (He would have been second on this list with his 2011-12 salary.)
1. Kobe Bryant (Lakers) $27,849,149
2. Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks) $20,907,128
3. Carmelo Anthony (Knicks) $20,463,024
4. Amare Stoudemire (Knicks) $19,948,799
5. Joe Johnson (Nets) $19,752,645
6. Dwight Howard (Lakers) $19,536,360
7. Pau Gasol (Lakers) $19,000,000
8. Chris Paul (Clippers) $17,779,458
9 (T). Chris Bosh (Heat) $17,545,000
9 (T). LeBron James (Heat) $17,545,000
(Extra) 11.Dwyane Wade (Heat) $17,182,000
As a fun comparison, here are the players with the best Player Efficiency Ratings last year (according to John Hollinger)…
1 LeBron James (Heat) 30.80
2 Chris Paul (Clippers) 27.09
3 Dwyane Wade (Heat) 26.37
4 Kevin Durant (Thunder) 26.26
5 Kevin Love (Timberwolves) 25.41
6 Dwight Howard (Magic) 24.29
7 Manu Ginobili (Spurs) 24.18
8 Blake Griffin (Clippers) 23.50
9 Derrick Rose (Bulls) 23.10
10 Russell Westbrook (Thunder) 23.00
10. Andrew Bynum (Lakers) 23.00
I know the PER is not the perfect measure of a player. (Kobe is 17th on this list.) I’m not a statistician, so I won’t try to make too many in depth observations about these numbers.
However, I think we can all agree on the fact that the Knicks front office spends money more recklessly than a 12 year old with his dad’s credit card at GameStop.
Oh, and Joe Johnson is the new Rashard Lewis.
PER Stats via ESPN
