Nine times out of ten, when you see a post about a pro athlete’s salary, you hear about ever-growing offers. But what you hear less often are salary cuts.
Some players, like James Harden, have taken pay cuts to keep playing for a team they believe in. But sometimes pay cuts follow an athlete’s decline in performance over time. Here are the biggest dips that occurred last year.
Which NBA Players Seen the Biggest Pay Cuts in 2021-22?
NBA players earn amazing salaries. As a result, even their pay cuts are more than many working Americans earn in their lifetime. For example, the player who took the fifth-biggest pay cut (as a percentage of salary), Utah Jazz’s Mike Conley, loses a staggering $13,502,132. Although not as large as Harden’s $14.3 million pay cut, Conley lost 39.13% of his salary, which is significant.
Lucky for Conley, he’s still pulling out $21 million a year. Per Fadeaway World, Conley was overpaid during his first multi-year deal. While its performance isn’t diminishing, the Jazz must also compensate other players in order to build a championship-level roster.
A 40% pay cut is one thing. But these next four players’ salaries dropped by more than 75%. Atlanta Hawks’ Gorgui Dieng lost a whopping $13,587,688 due to declining performance, taking his salary down to just $4,000,000. It’s not peanuts, but it probably has led to some adjustments in living standards.
Similarly, injuries resulted in Victor Oladipo taking an 88.62 percent dip. His salary dropped from $21,000,000 to just $2,389,641, requiring some serious financial planning.
The second largest drop belongs to Otto Porter of the Golden State Warriors. His salary shrank to $2,389,641. This is the veteran’s minimum salary granted to him due to injuries over the past two seasons. But since he started out earning a little more than Oladipo — $26,099,598, to be exact — his pay cut was 91.61%.
However, by a tiny 0.04% margin, the biggest pay cut belongs to the Philadelphia 76ers’ Andre Drummond.
Why did Andre Drummond take such a big pay cut?
Going from $28,751,774 to $2,401,537 must be hard to swallow. The veteran’s minimum comes from inconsistent performance, particularly on free throws and distance to the ground. But he made an impact during a shortened season in Philadelphia supporting Joel Embiid.
Drummond’s NBA trajectory has been complicated. He was bought out of his Cleveland Cavaliers contract by the Lakers midway through 2020-21 but saw his playing time reduced to nothing. He then signed with the 76ers on a one-year veteran minimum wage. Drummond was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in a deal that saw James Harden move to the 76ers for Ben Simmons.
At 6’10” and still healthy, the 28-year-old can still impress, especially when it comes to rebounding. Drummond has also hit a double-double for eight straight seasons, which shouldn’t be overlooked.
However, it remains to be seen how much playing time he will get in his first full upcoming season with the Chicago Bulls. After his unlimited free hand, he signed a two-year, $6.6 million contract with the Bulls.
Did Drummond Take Biggest NBA Pay Cut Ever?
Despite a pay cut of over 91%, Drummond’s pay cut isn’t the biggest ever taken by an NBA ballplayer. Many believe that record belongs to retired basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, whose well-known size and ubiquity during his heyday might have casual fans wondering why anyone would dare pay Shaq less.
Shaq’s pay cut percentage is no greater than Drummond’s. But it’s bigger in absolute dollar terms. As reported by The Sports Rush, Lakers head coach Jerry West convinced Shaq to accept a $120 million contract to recruit Shaq to the Los Angeles Lakers and join Kobe Bryant in increasing the franchise’s chances of winning championships to improve. That’s less than the $150 million Shaq was aiming for, which he probably could have gotten elsewhere.
That’s a $30 million loss — and it’s not the only time he’s suffered a loss of this magnitude. After his time with the Lakers, he signed a three-year, $90 million deal with the Heat, not the five-year, $100 million deal he had been aiming for. By doing so and getting paid $20 million a year instead of $30 million a year, he took a $30 million pay cut for the first three years of his contract.
We’ll never know if Shaq could have negotiated a five-year, $30 million-a-year deal. But his $30 million combined pay cuts still don’t have the dubious distinction of being the biggest of all time.
According to Forbes, that honor goes to Dirk Nowitzki, who left deals up to $97 million on the table to continue playing for the Dallas Mavericks for $25 million. That’s a staggering loss of $72 million, but it shows how much some players value loyalty.
TIED TOGETHER: How Shaquille O’Neal Spent His Entire LA Lakers Paycheck In Two Days
