Olson era players: $631 million . . . and counting
By Anthony Gimino
There are a lot of ways for fans to keep score about their college basketball program. Victories. Conference titles. NCAA Tournament appearances. NBA draft picks. Lottery picks. All-Stars.
And there’s always a good ol’ reliable favorite — money.
Arizona players from the Lute Olson era (1983-2008) have earned $631,011,211 in NBA salaries through the end of this season. Not bad for a quarter century of work. And that doesn’t even include endorsements, performance bonuses, huge money from shoe companies, appearance fees, etc. Just salary.
(Get the player-by-player breakdown after the jump)
What’s more, several ex-Cats in the NBA — such as Gilbert Arenas and Andre Iguodala — are still owed $258,468,842 in contract money.
That would bring the total up to $889.5 million.
Mike Bibby, an unrestricted free agent, still has another contract waiting for him. Iguodala will be (amazingly) only 30 when his six-year, $80 million contract expires. Jordan Hill (likely lottery pick) and Chase Budinger (likely first-rounder) will soon add to the bounty.
Those are just some of the examples of how the money will keep on flowing.
Bottom line: Someday, the Wildcats who played for (or in Jerryd Bayless’ case, was recruited by) Lute Olson will have earned $1 billion in NBA salaries. Amazing.
Keep in mind, we’re not even considering the substantial money made by players — such as Jason Gardner and Joseph Blair and Michael Wright — who earned a fine living overseas.
(As a side note, Arizona State players have earned an estimated $55.5 million in NBA salaries during the Olson era — less than 10 percent of the Arizona total. To be fair, that time period just misses Sun Devil standouts Alton Lister and Fat Lever; they would add about $20 million to the total, which is great, but it doesn’t really move the numbers that much.)
In all, 31 of Olson’s UA players have been in the NBA, starting with Pete Williams in the 1985-86 season.
Here is the player-by-player breakdown, ranked by salary:
(UPDATE: Thanks to J.T. in the comments section for pointing out that Michael Dickerson received about $40 million from his guaranteed contract after being forced to quit because of a groin injury after the 2002-03 season.)
SALARIES OF EX-WILDCATS IN THE NBA
| NAME | SALARY |
|---|---|
| Damon Stoudamire | $99,840,760 |
| Mike Bibby | $93,959,056 |
| Gilbert Arenas | $66,712,051 |
| Jason Terry | $54,076,961 |
| Richard Jefferson | $53,515,034 |
| Michael Dickerson | $50,425,662 |
| Sean Elliott | $40,626,666 |
| Chris Mills | $37,370,000 |
| Bison Dele | $22,159,500 |
| Andre Iguodala | $20,279,009 |
| Sean Rooks | $17,173,000 |
| Steve Kerr | $16,119,000 |
| Luke Walton | $12,031,977 |
| Jud Buechler | $11,365,000 |
| Channing Frye | $10,138,889 |
| Khalid Reeves | $9,013,309 |
| Loren Woods | $3,468,931 |
| Tom Tolbert | $2,919,500 |
| Anthony Cook | $2,295,000 |
| Salim Stoudamire | $2,187,000 |
| Jerryd Bayless | $1,993,560 |
| Ben Davis | $715,847 |
| Hassan Adams | $714,066 |
| Miles Simon | $672,500 |
| Reggie Geary | $492,250 |
| Ed Stokes | $272,500 |
| Ray Owes | $220,000 |
| A.J. Bramlett | $118,974 |
| Pete Williams | $70,000 |
| Marcus Williams | $52,209 |
| Matt Othick | $13,000 |
| TOTAL | $631,011,211 |
EX-WILDCATS STILL UNDER CONTRACT
| NAME | OWED SALARY | YEARS |
|---|---|---|
| Gilbert Arenas | 96,346,000 | 5 years |
| Jerryd Bayless | 11,642,842 | 4 years |
| Andre Iguodala | 68,700,000 | 5 years |
| Richard Jefferson | 29,200,000 | 2 years |
| Jason Terry | 31,000,000 | 3 years |
| Luke Walton | 21,580,000 | 4 years |
| TOTAL | $255,268,842 |
Sources:
- USA TODAY salary database
- Basketball-reference.com player pages
- Various news stories
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June 18th, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Javier,
Great write up! A couple of quick questions…
How much (collectively and individually) are the wildcats slated to make next season?
How does AZ’s numbers compare to other elite programs (UNC, UCLA, etc) both past and present.
Again, excellent story. Thanks a lot!
June 18th, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Ben…
I will be adding later today the salary money still owed to the ex-Cats.
I do intend to add the collective salary figures from other top programs over the same time frame I used for Arizona … but will need some time to compile them.
So, consider this the first of a series.
June 18th, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Anthony,
Didn’ Dickerson sign a fifty million dollar guaranteed contract right before he got hurt and his career was ended? I thought he still recieved that money.
June 18th, 2009 at 12:41 PM
If I had to guess I’d say UNC will blow us out of the water, in large part due to Michael Jordan squeaking in at the beginning of the Olson era. Throw in guys Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Jerry Stackhouse, and Rasheed Wallace and you’ve got a lot of money. You could even throw in Julius Peppers although he never played in the NBA (and if you counted him I suppose you would count Kenny Lofton as well).
June 18th, 2009 at 1:17 PM
I had no idea mighty mouse made that much coin, good for him!
June 18th, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Stoudamire? Just amazing that a journeyman player can “earn” One Hundred Million Dollars!!! Who was his agent, Dr. Evil?
June 18th, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Re: Damon Stoudamire — he’s still the best high-school player I’ve ever seen (admittedly a small sample size). He did well at Toronto, including rookie of the year, and that set him up for the Paul Allen bucks back home in Portland. The Blazer brass was desperate to find the key to another championship in the late 90′s and Allen was willing to spend.
Damon really did well here for a while, but he lost his way later with the jail-blazer crew. Mary Jane was a problem. Too bad he didn’t max his opportunities; on talent, he should not be remembered as a journeyman, but it’s hard to argue with that perspective.
June 18th, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Huh, I just looked up Michael Jordan and it looks like he didn’t make anywhere near as much as I thought he did. I knew he was making $30+ million at the end of his time with the Bulls but it looks like he only made that for 2 years, and those 2 years were over 2/3rds of his total career basketball earnings. He made less money playing basketball over the course of his career than Damon did, which just goes to show how much salaries have exploded over the past couple decades. Of course he made mountains on top of that with all of his endorsement deals.
June 18th, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Probably not the kind of coin Marcus Williams was hoping to pull down when he bailed early. Idiot.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:19 PM
so why has only richard jefferson donated to the u of a? shouldn’t we have state of the art facilities from big donations from a few of these guys? i mean they can surely afford it.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:02 PM
good point, Bmac…
it’s a shame that a few more of those millions haven’t made their way back into facilities for the bball program. wonder if (hope) some have given to the athletic department as a whole
June 18th, 2009 at 8:32 PM
I think Arenas has. He also donated to Katrina victims but was critizied becasue the amount was so little compared to his salary (lame critics!). Areanas gets a bad rap because he is a bit out spoken and buys multi million dollar pools….I love the guy but it seems like the rest of the country either loves him or hates him.
Iggy may have other financial obligations….
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AgsHiN5oBbBp9Y1t7tBltAS8vLYF?slug=ap-76ers-iguodala&prov=ap&type=lgns
June 19th, 2009 at 6:07 AM
Way to go Marcus Williams! You got some serious dough for leaving school early!
June 19th, 2009 at 6:36 PM
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June 24th, 2009 at 3:17 PM
[...] Related link: Jefferson’s career earnings at more than $53 million. [...]
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