[HaleParticipant]

 http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba–kobe-bryant–dirk-nowitzki-among-nba-s-most-overpaid-.html

Sports fans hold strong opinions about which pro basketball players deserve their massive salaries, and which ones don’t. One fan, however, has gone further than the average barstool commentator –- Southern Utah University economics professor David Berri.

Berri is co-author of the 2006 book "The Wages of Wins," which determines which players are overpaid with a statistical method called "Wins Produced" that he and his co-authors developed.

Slideshow: NBA’s most overpaid players

According to Berri, NBA players are paid for high scoring, so the more points an athlete racks up, the more money he earns. Berri believes that this overlooks other factors that contribute to a victory, such as shots taken, turnovers, rebounds and fouls.

These and other elements are included in the "Wins Produced" algorithm.

"Wins in basketball are primarily about a team’s ability to get and keep possession of the ball and then turning those possessions into points," Berri told CNBC.com in an e-mail. "In 2011-12, NBA teams paid $1.9 billion for 990 regular season wins. This means that the cost per win was $1.946 million. Given the cost of each win and knowing both how many victories each player produced and his salary allows us to see which players were overpaid."

All salary information was provided by Berri, who used data from the NBA draft projection site DraftExpress.com and from basketball analyst Patricia Bender. All data was compiled by Berri’s colleague Arturo Galletti.

Check out David Berri’s 10 most overpaid players in the NBA.

The list:

10. Tyrus Thomas, Charlotte Bobcats (overpaid by $12,459,225) 
9. Deron Williams, Brooklyn Nets (overpaid by $12,784,867) 
8. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks (overpaid by $12,851,295) 
7. Corey Maggette, Charlotte Bobcats (overpaid by $12,862,248) 
6. Mehmet Okur, Brooklyn Nets (overpaid by $12,988,657) 
5. Chris Kaman, New Orleans Hornets (overpaid by $14,613,480) 
4. Amar’e Stoudemire, New York Knicks (overpaid by $14,918,309 ) 
3. Antawn Jamison, Cleveland Cavaliers (overpaid by $17,402,350) 
2. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers (overpaid by $19,693,258) 
1. Rashard Lewis, Washington Wizards (overpaid by $21,167,231)

 

 

I would’ve liked for them to show the actual formula to see how they made this list.

[SmooveKRYPTParticipant]

Not sure how D Will & Dirk made the list…
No argument against anyone else though.

[ghettosermonParticipant]

 The formula obviously has no credibility when you see Kobe, Dirk, and flippin Deron Williams on the list and no Joe Johnson.  

[HaleParticipant]

I’m guessing because Dirk had a down year, and D-Will was the Net’s only good player so he forced things.

[I May Be WrongParticipant]

Yeah, Im kinda wondering what the formula is too b/c of Dirk, D-Will, and Kobe.

Carlos Boozer – overpaid

Brandon Haywood – overpaid

Richard Jefferson – overpaid

Brian Scalabrine – underpaid

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 Interesting that Kobe Bryant is on there at the top. I believe they used Win Share. You can look up the players WS on Basketball Reference. Kobe has a 6.2 WS. But they are doing something more complicated than taking WS and multiplying it by $1.95 million. Doing that, Kobe would be "worth" $12 million a year. Since Kobe was paid $25 million, he would only be overpaid by $13 million instead of the $19.6 million they have in the article. 

This article doesn’t include the playoffs and the value of wins and getting to the next round in the playoffs. Kobe upped his game in the playoffs this year and helped get the Lakers to the second round. That should count for something and Kobe shouldn’t be all the way up to number two on the overpaid list. 

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 I assume D. Will made the list because the Nets couldn’t get any wins to speak of. But that was more because his team was so bad then that he had suddenly become a bum.  But it does make the whole thing not really make any sense. 

[surveParticipant]

 once a very good player, now shoots around 40% from the field.  Not worth it.

[TurnipParticipant]

I want to know what this "wins produced" stat is… Because if you take Dirk, D-Will, or Kobe off their team they’d all probably win 15-20 fewer games.

That seems like 15-20 wins produced to me.

[llperez]

dirk, deron and kobe? And the numbers they have are ridiculous as well. Deron made 16 mill and they say he was overpaid by 12 meaning they think he should have made 4 mill. Dirk made 19 mill and they say he is overpaid by 13 so they think he should have made 6. KObe made 25 mill and they say is overpaid by 19 thus they think he was worth 6 mill. Allso does this formula take ticket sales and marketability into account for the players value to a franchise? IM guessing not. Zero credibility to this "formula". I also am not an amare fan, but they suggest he was only worth 3 mill last year as well, thats taking it too far.

[SportsNinjaParticipant]

That 1.9M is per win, and each win doesn’t go to one player, so maybe these numbers are based on the win total, total team salary, and the other salaries on the team? ?

Lakers 41 wins x 1.946M = 79.786M

Lakers actual payroll = 86M

Players and salaries: http://www.hoopsworld.com/los-angeles-lakers-team-salary

IDK, I didn’t really give it a lot of thought, and I don’t really care that much, so I didn’t really see this all the way through. It was just a thought.

[MkadozaParticipant]

 No Elton Brand? He doesnt deserve the contract he has production-since-sign, but he’s probably underrated for his team game, defense and leadership at this point in his career.

[ItsVictorOladipoParticipant]

LOL, I’m pretty sure Tyrus Thomas makes alot less than 12.5 million a year. I know he’s overpaid but I seriously doubt he should be paying the Bobcats millions of dollars just for the privilege of playing ball for them.

[llperez]

lol dwighthoward, i didnt catch that. Tyrus made 7 mill last year and is overpaid by 12 mill thus he owes the bobcats 5 million dollars just to be there.

[HaleParticipant]

I’m confused by that as well. It might be their total remaining contract, not their season salary. I doubt they would go as far as to say the players owed the teams money.

[llperez]

damn, not just thomas either. Kaman, okur and maggette all were overpaid by more then their actual salary.

[ballaj334Participant]

 amare should be on this list no doubt hes making max and is gonna be paid max the next 4 years and hes way over the hump

[r377Participant]

Charlie Villanueva 11-12  stats

13 games – 7ppg at 38%    approx $7mill salary

[kzekeParticipant]

Dirk is on this list and not Haywood!?!?  Makes no sense. 

[Krypt GussParticipant]

 BOOZER!

Amnesty Clause his ass already!

[TomShoeParticipant]

 "We get paid millions of dollars to play a game. I think we’re all kind of overpaid."

-Anonymous NBA Forward

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