Adrian Wojnarowski: LeBron Would Be Worth $50-60 Million on an Open Market
Adrian Wojnarowski was a guest on the Dan Patrick Show this morning. They discussed the Jason Kidd fiasco, as well as NBA free agency, which obviously steered towards LeBron and the Heat. Woj noted that after Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem opted out, there isn’t a whole lot of optimism around the league that LeBron would leave Miami — they wouldn’t have taken less money unless some sort of deal to keep the team intact was in place.
When Patrick asked if LeBron was going to make the max, Wojnarowski had an interesting response:
I’m told it’s gonna be max, or close to max. … For me, he’s the best player in the league. He should be the highest paid player. I know nobody wants to hear it, and whatever they’re making is enough — I get that — but the star player in the NBA is the most underpaid star in pro sports. They fill arenas everywhere they go, they drive immense TV ratings, they make the difference between winning and losing unlike anyone in sports, except maybe a quarterback in football.
The owners have to love that these guys all keep taking less instead of getting what the value should be for a star player. If we’re on an open market — with the owners in this league — LeBron would be worth $50-60 million per year.
Last week, Deadspin’s Kyle Wagner used advanced stats to come up with what LeBron would be worth if there were no max contracts, but the total amount of money paid to salaries (including luxury tax spending), and came up with either $30.3 million, $44.8 million or $57.3 million, depending on the stats.