Are you seriously and incredulously asking how Hooley, Moller, Smith-Milner, Pledger and Trist would earn more than an average of $90k each? Jois is not exactly playing a full season; he's there for 3-4 games.

Melbourne is one of the last teams I'd use to question the 450k thing! Their scrubs aren't all that unscruffy.

Smith Milner and Hooley wouldn't be paid much.

I assume for the purposes of the calc, Trist's salary from the first part of the season would be included. I doubt he was on big bucks though.

Pledger signed from NZ on a 1 year deal, so he's the only one that jumps out as a highly paid bottom 5 guy.

But he's also the only one of the 5 who actually achieved anything in the NBL before signing with United.

I really doubt United would be paying those 5 more than $450k.

Isaac, one of United's development players earns 70k/year. It's a fair question by the OP gievn Pledger's inclusion in that list.

Whether or not this rule is being enforced is another matter.

I've read that Sydney's offer to Moller was around that $90k mark and they were outbit by 30-40k. I would have to assume that Pledger is worth at least that as well as a serviceable NBL big. The others... well... I wouldn't be shocked if they were over the mark, but I wouldn't think egregiously so.

Melbourne isn't going to audit Melbourne.

Time for a royal commission.

Development players are generally paid peanuts... But this particular individual, at Melbourne, earns 70k. This isn't what I think, this is what I know.

I can't say if it's the same for other DPs (most would be paid peanuts apart from maybe Perth) but that isn't the topic of discussion.

That's gold if true.

I have no idea about United, but I spoke to a family member of an NBL player last season and I heard their salary- it was more than I thought.

Can't give away too much detail but this player wasn't from one of the "cashed up" clubs eg United/Perth, and they were in the 9-11th player range.

Newsflash: People lie about their salaries.

Anon I was replying to LV and his hearsay.

Can you tell us more?

Ah okay got anons mixed up. That is hilarious - thanks for sharing.

Not sharing any more

The point is that guys buried deep on NBL benches may be earning more than we suspect

Again LV - player and/or family member are probably quoting an inflated salary.

This was already explained to you last year when you first mentioned it.

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Re: PlaymakerMo's comment - source? Saw on paper?

The sauce was an immediate family member. Not a cousin or anything. Very reliable.

Secondly they gave a very specific figure, not a round number.

And thirdly I spoke to this immediate family member myself.

It wasn't some yarn I heard off somebody who claimed to know a family member of an NBL player.

What do people think these guys are actually earning?

Pledger 110k
Moller 90k
Trist/Jois 80k
Hooley 60k
Smith-Milner 60k

Total 400k

And the 400k is from 2016-17 so would now be higher.

Remember a few years ago Massingale was reportedly on minimum wage, 38k or something like that. I doubt any of those guys would be that low but you never know, Hooley or Smith Milner might conceivably be on 50k, it's only 6 months, August to Feb plus playoffs. And they're SEABL/NZNBL guys who were given an NBL opportunity by United, presumably without many other offers.

These guys would be earning what, 20k-40k from SEABL/State leagues? Maybe Pledger would earn more from NZNBL? So they'd all be on 70k bare minimum, up to 150k. Not bad for young blokes running around playing off the bench in a third tier sport

And to throw something else into this discussion, Barlow wouldn't be on much more than Pledger, if at all.

United probably has 5 fairly well paid players.

But if you look at Sydney I reckon they'd have a higher payroll. Their starting 5 would be on more than United's. And their bench wouldn't be on peanuts with Kickert and Bowen in there.

"But if you look at Sydney I reckon they'd have a higher payroll. Their starting 5 would be on more than United's. And their bench wouldn't be on peanuts with Kickert and Bowen in there."

I don't think Bowen’s salary would count, as he’s on a next star deal (paid by NBL).

IFF the next star program ran properly, with all teams having a fair shot at scoring a free player, it would certainly help all teams with their lowest paid 5 calculations. Teams could, essentially, up each bottom 5 player’s salary by around $20k. If the next stars doesn’t apply to all teams, then it’s a competitive advantage in recruiting bottom 5 players who can contribute more.

In October last year, Fox Sports quoted the NBL as saying the average player salary for a local was $122,000. If you adjust for the 10 highest played local players (like Bogut, Newley, Bairstow, Kay, Lisch, etc), then the average for the other 55 odd locals would be about $100,000 or less.

On that basis I can believe that Melbourne has a group of five players on $450,000 less. Noting that Pledger need not be one of the five and that Jois gets only a part of a season salary as he replaced Trist.

The average figure above is online if you want to check it.

Thanks PeterJohn- I wasn't aware of that

That's roughly what I would've expected.

Actually it's probably slightly less than I would've expected (As average and median are different things, and guys like Bogut I would've thought would bring the average up a bit more). But it's in the ballpark of my expectations for sure.

LV - yes, I was also a little surprised it was that low.

The overall league average salary quoted in the same article was $152,000. That means that the imports (at least those on the books at the start of the season), were averaging about $220,000 each.

It also means the average team salary spend this year was about $1.67 million. The implication of that is that next year's soft cap will be about $1.67 million. So the league salary floor will be about $1.5 million and the 40% threshold for the lowest paid 5 players will be about $600,000.

Welcome to the arms race!

LV - ignore them. There will always be the "Only the ATO and the player truly know" types. (As though the ATO necessarily would, too.)

It's irrelevant to the discussion too. It's possible to have a $70k dev player and then cheap guys in your 11-man roster.

I knew him kissing LK on the cheek instead of the old handshake (not joking) everytime they see each other would pay dividends!

Man, the NBL pays jack-shit.

Let's say you're an average NBL player, earning $122k from your NBL club.

You can earn an extra 30k playing SEABL/NZNBL/State league.

If you're well connected or have some qualifications you could earn another $30k-$50k working full time for half the year while you're playing SEABL from March to August. As NBL pre season training only kicks into full swing in August.

That would put your overall salary at $180 - $200k.

I think $180k puts you in the top 3% of Australians. It'd probably put you in the top 1% of under 35's. Not bad.

Right, because "cultural thing" could only mean that two people have the exact same cultural background...

LV
Yesterday

What do people think these guys are actually earning?

Pledger 110k
Moller 90k
Trist/Jois 80k
Hooley 60k
Smith-Milner 60k

My guess would be you are pretty close, I wouldnt be surprised if Hooley and Smith-Milner on more like 40-50k (plus they would make 20kish playing SEABL/NZ in the off season) and that even allows for Pledger, Moller, Trist/Jois each to be on 10-20k more.

So yes, Melbourne would easily have those guys on 450k between them

Why didn't Perf just sign LeBron because obviously his salary would be the same as Greg Hire.