The NBA is the world's most competitive and popular basketball league. There are literally millions of fans all throughout the world. With it's massive popularity - the question is on the rise of, "What are NBA Salaries of Players and Coaches?" We all know that professional sports players are paid very well - but specifically, many of us would like to figure out which players and coaches are paid the most. Below, you will find a compiled list of the highest paid NBA Players on Salary. If you scroll down even farther, you will see information about how much NBA Coaches earn. The numbers may surprise you, but if you're a big fan of the NBA, we are sure that you want to know how much they earn!

NBA Salaries

We have heard that basketball is the second highest paying pro sport (baseball coming in at number one) but what exactly do NBA players make? There is no way to talk about NBA salaries without looking at the whole picture which would mean looking at both the highest paid team as well as the lowest ranking team. Then the same comparison would need to be made with individual players.

The highest paid team in the NBA is currently the LA Lakers with an annual payroll of $94,745,383 whereas the team with the lowest annual payroll is the Minnesota Timberwolves with a total payroll of $37,600,032. That's almost a sixty million dollars difference! In fact, the bottom three teams including the New York Knicks, the Sacramento Kings and the Minnesota T-wolves add up to almost what the Lakers annual payroll is.

So, what are NBA salaries? That's a very good question and there is such a disparity in the amounts of any two players that it is hard to determine. Actually, the highest paid NBA player is, of course, Kobe Bryant whose 2010-2011 salary is $24,806,250. That's nearly $29 million! In the coming years his salaries are set to increase to $25,244,000 - $27,849,000 and $30,453,000 respectively.

But Kobe is in a league of his own, no pun intended. That is nowhere near what the average salary is even though it is a figure every young boy aspires to reach. While the average player in the 2010 – 20111 season makes roughly 6 million dollars, some players make less than $50k while as you can see, Kobe makes almost $29 million. There is such a difference that talking about NBA salaries is quite misleading. Get a piece of the action! Try sports betting websites with 888sport! Join NOW!

The top five NBA salaries go to Kobe Bryant, Rashard Lewis, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Michael Redd while the top five NBA teams in terms of payroll are the LA Lakers, the Orlando Magic, the Dallas Mavericks, the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets. These salaries are mindboggling in their scope and perhaps the number one reason why so many of today's youth dream of becoming an NBA player.

Top 10 Highest Paid NBA Players of 2010

Kobe Bryant

Below you will see a chart that shares information regarding to the highest paid NBA Players. This is a current list that was recently updated so you know the amounts are fairly accurate. There are 10 players with their salaries below. You might be shocked, or disgusted to find out how much a single player can earn just from playing in the National Basketball Association. For example, Kobe Bryant from the Los Angeles Lakers is making 25 MILLION dollars per year on his salary, whereas Tony Parker from the San Antonio Spurs is making 13.5 MILLION per year on his salary. Only the players on the best teams should be paid the most, don't you agree?

  1. Kobe Bryant - LA Lakers - 25 Million
  2. Rashard Lewis - Orlando Magic - 20.5 Million
  3. Kevin Garnett - Boston Celtics - 19 Million
  4. Tim Duncan - San Antonia Spurs - 18.7 Million
  5. Michael Redd - Milwaukee - 18.3 Million
  6. Pau Gasol - LA Lakers - 17.8 Million
  7. Andrei Kirilenko - Utah - 17.8 Million
  8. Yao Ming - Houston - 17.7 Million
  9. Gilbert Arenas - Washington - 17.7 Million
  10. Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas - 17.3 Million
  11. Vince Carter - Orlando - 17.3 Million
  12. Zach Randolph - Memphis - 17.3 Million
  13. Carmelo Anthony - Denver - 17.1 Million
  14. Amare Stoudemire - New York - 16.8 Million
  15. Dwight Howard - Orlando Magic - 16.5 Million

Highest Team Payrolls for 2010 NBA Salaries

Just like any company or business, each team in the National Basketball League have a set budget that they spend on players. It's interesting to take a look at since there is a clear connection between the teams with the highest payroll budget and their wins/losses record. Is it really true that the teams that allocate more money on their payroll for players salaries have a better record? Do you see the connection?

NBA Teams
  1. LA Lakers - 95 Million
  2. Orlando Magic - 90 Million
  3. Dallas Mavericks - 86 Million
  4. Boston Celtics - 83 Million
  5. Denver Nuggets - 83 Million
  6. Houston Rockets - 73 Million
  7. Utah Jazz - 71 Million
  8. Philadelphia 76ers - 69 Million
  9. Atlanta Hawks - 69 Million
  10. New Orleans Hornets - 68 Million
  11. Milwaukee Bucks - 68 Million
  12. Portland Trail Blazers - 68 Million
  13. San Antonio Spurs - 65 Million
  14. Detroit Pistons - 65 Million
  15. Indiana Pacers - 64 Million

As you can see, the budget of these NBA teams is enormous! It's incredible to think that there is this much money distributed to a team of professional basketball players. It's no wonder that you hear about how nice their houses and cars are. Although the budget on salaries is very high at the moment, it has not risen an incredible amount in recent years.

What is the Average Salary of an NBA Player?

It seems like everywhere you turn you are seeing kids shooting hoops in the streets, on courts and even in the family room, much to the chagrin of parents trying to salvage the last vase on the end tables! There doesn't seem to be a more popular pastime and kids everywhere want to be an NBA player.

Yes, they do make great salaries, but getting to that point takes a whole lot of talent and even more hard work both on the court and off. There is such a diversity in the salaries of NBA players that it is difficult to make an assessment that is realistic; however, the average salary is right around $6 million dollars.

NBA players make more money than NFL, but less than major league baseball players. That's largely due to the salary caps that have been set. A team has only so much money that they can 'spend' and that money needs to be divvied between players. Of course, as the caps are considered to be 'soft salary caps,' there are always workarounds and loopholes.

The reason why saying there is an 'average' salary is so misleading is that some players make less than $50k while others, like Kobe Bryant make more than $24 million! So what is an average NBA salary? Again, based on all salaries added up and then divided by the total number of players, the figure falls at roughly six million. But that isn't realistic.

The average salary for an NBA player who gets any real play time is much, much higher. Some analysts estimate that players, who get out on the floor even as bench relief, make at least an average of 10 million dollars. With all that said and done, it is something to strive for and perhaps why so many kids are into street ball from a very young age.

There is so much more to basketball than being able to shoot hoops as there is real strategy behind each and every play. Yes, it helps to be able to dunk and shoot a three pointer from beyond half court, but those are just the 'showy' moments of the game for the crowd's delight. Real skill is needed and those players earn that money, night after night. Does six million dollars sound like a lot? Maybe it is, but where would we be without basketball? There sure would be a whole lot of kids on the streets with altogether too much time on their hands!

NBA Coach Salaries

NBA players notoriously make a lot of money, but what about the coaches that lead teams to the finals year after year after year? Actually, you would be surprised at how little those coaches make relative to the players they are instrumental in turning into superstars. Look at Phil Jackson, for instance. He has, what, 11 championship rings in his collections? As amazing as that is, he makes less than half of the salary that is star player Kobe Bryant makes! Kobe is bringing in close to $29 million this year while Jackson is at roughly $13 million.

But just like Kobe's salary is nowhere near 'average,' neither is Phil Jackson's. Take a look at other top NBA coaches such as Greg Popovich from San Antonio and Don Nelson who is the NBA's all-time leader in regular season wins and you will see that they make less than half of Jackson's salary. Along with Mike D'Antoni of New York, those three bring in about $6 each.

Figures released in various sources around the web state that the average salary for an NBA coach in the 2010 – 2011 season falls roughly at $2 million. It may seem like a lot of money, but when players on their teams are making more than five or ten times that amount, you really aren't looking at a lot of money. To the average person who makes roughly $43k a year based on the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, two million seems like a ton of money. But, in the scope of what they do and how they are largely responsible for the strategy that gets teams to the playoffs or championships, there appears to be a discrepancy between salaries and real worth.

Perhaps the reason that coaches aren't valued as they should be is because they are not the ones out there on the floor making those plays staged for audience appeal. Occasionally they will have words with refs which will earn them a few moments of glory (or infamy as the case may be) but they aren't in the spotlight enough to be appreciated for what they are – the backbone of the team.