I was thinking the same thing when i read the article. there's no difference between $51m and $40m. I really can't see why Lebron for example, with all his endorsement deals, can't get small contract and let the team sign a few big name players. But he is doomed to pass to daniel gibson and drew gooden for the next 3 years. oh well.

Maybe they like being the 'stars' of the team. Guaranteed to see the ball x amount of times, is there really any pressure on a superstar when he is surronded by role players? Always over-achieving.

If someone offered you $1 million to do your current job or your current salary and bring in an assistant, surely most people would take the $1 million and give it a shot? If it doesn't work out we'll re-asses and maybe bring in an assistant later.

The difference is my job's success is not measured by the winning of NBA championships, whereas LeBron's is.

By locking up the Cav's money in his contract he starves the rest of the roster of any decent players.

Another reason why Duncan is the MVP of the league.

I was a 'sota fan... Yeah they won 58 games that year and went to the Conference finals. It was a good year, Garnett MVP. The next year people ALSO don't remember that Cassel was injured most of the season and could hardly play when he was on court. And Cassel was their game-breaker and leader on the floor. He was the one with balls who would pull them out of the fire when they were losing. So its not accurate to say the two years were the same at all. Sprewell did have a winge, but he still played okay.

Until now Duncan has always taken pretty much max. This is the first extension he has taken MUCH less, at the moment he is still on the same as Kobe, close to 20 mil. So I don't think its that Garnett took too much cash, more that the supporting cast is willing to play for less. C'mon, they had Parker and Manu playing for much less than they deserved, plus a heap of awesome defensive role players. They also have Pop, from seeing the Pistons Cavs series this year it showed how poor Flip Saunders coaching was.

'Sota had Olowokandi, Hudson, Hoiberg in 04, Spurs have HEAPS better role players on the same kind of cash.

So I still say it's McHale's fault. He could have taken care of the contracts so people played harder, and could have drafted better and could have not lost 5 years of draft picks because of that Jo Smith dodgy deal.

Garnett probably could have taken four or five mil less a year, but I don't think it would have made a difference, McHale would have just used it to sign Vin Baker again or something.

Also, Garnett maxed out when there was no restriction on the max, whereas Duncan and Kobe maxed out under the new deal - so got much less. This means the lakers and spurs had more money to throw at other players than 'sota.

NBA players are paid alot more than they really should be and many a greedy for money and "stardom" and then complain why that they can't win a championship because they can't have players built around him...

Welldone Duncan on taking a paycut so us San Antonio supporters can continue watching a successful team.

LeBron James has fame, money, endorsements... why not cut some money to get a good enough team around him to win a championship? Even with a team with greater players, he could still star and look good, just in a championship aswell.

The money is there to be earnt. If not the players actually out there playing 82 games a year, would you rather the owner just collect it all?

I think the point is the money should be spread around the team to allow quality players 8 and 9 deep on the bench. The "franchise" player has a lot to say in whether or not that happens.

The Spurs would have given Duncan the max. He chose not to take it. Like Robinson in his later years, he took a cut to allow better role players to be recruited like Horry/Kerr/Rose and even Kevin Willis to an extent. (Willis' D on Shaq in 2003 is something to see)

Had Robinson demanded the max for his last contract one or two of those guys would not have been able to sign. I think Duncan is looking at the next few years in the same way.

Let's hope he goes down with an injury next year, Bowen/Horry/Finley retire, Spurs go lottery and get the #1 pick and they three-peat the last 3 years of Duncan's contract with Parker and Ginobili being named joint MVP's

Not disagreeing with that, was just responding to "NBA players are paid alot more than they really should be".

Aren't Boston showing that KG can still get a good deal, add a couple of stars, and have a few other decent young players?

Was thinking the same thing - but Boston did trade away 8 or 9 players in the Garnett/Allen deals. They are very thin past the starting 5. Their Centre is questionable, and their PG unproven. If Allen goes dow, their back to scraping in to the playoffs. I would have thought Juwan Howard would have been a good fit, but he's at Dallas.