Planet Money Episode 427 Essay
Lebron James gets paid $17.5 million per year and the hosts are talking about how he gets underpaid, which is a total crock. When Lebron left the Cavaliers, the teams worth went down 25% and the Miami Heat’s value went up 30$ and it was calculated by Forbes Magazine that he should be getting paid $40 million per year, but he can’t be paid that due to the salary cap. The owners keep the money that really should be going towards Lebron James market value per year salary. There are also lesser known players that are getting money that should be paid less like Mike Miller who is getting paid $6 million dollars per year.
A team like the Wizards, who are the most god awful team in the league has a chance to get better and spend money on a better player thanks to the salary cap. If the Wizards were a business they would be done for without a salary cap. The league can stay competitive buy paying players far less than they are worth especially in small cities like Oklahoma City. If there was no salary cap, the Thunder wouldn’t be as good as they are because they wouldn’t be earning the same revenue that a market like New York or Miami generate.
As a Thunder fan, it’s music to my ears to hear that Lebron James is getting hosed by the rest of the NBA. I never thought he would be out $20 million though. I didn’t realize how important the salary cap was to the rest of the NBA though. I thought the salary cap was to prevent the players from getting lazy and not playing their hardest from night to night. I do think it would be interesting to see bad teams essentially go out of business and wait to get bought by another owner of another city. It would be a matter of time before your city was to buy a bad team. However in the end it is nice to have the Thunder make to playoffs year after year so I’m fine with the way the salary cap is.