Hall of Fame guard Joe Dumars made 22.5 million dollars during his 14 year career with the Detroit Pistons, his hall of fame backcourt mate Isiah Thomas made 16.5 million. Dream Teamers Charles Barkley and Larry Bird pulled in a combined 70 million during their illustrious careers. After this season, Tim Thomas will have pulled in 84 million dollars during a career in which he has averaged 12 points and 4 rebounds over 14 seasons.

That’s the way things go in sports today. Some superstars played before the big payouts came, and some marginal players came at exactly the right time to swoop in and steal millions of dollars for statistics that wouldn’t have earned them 10 million dollars in their career 20 years earlier. Today however, there is an elite group of current players who have earned over 100 million dollars in their career. On the list are current superstars, former superstars playing out their career, and NBA players with really, really good agents. Here is the 100 million dollar or more superstars:

Shaquile O’Neal
252 million

Kevin Garnett
210.1 million

Jason Kidd
145.7 million

Alonzo Mourning
140.2 million

Allen Iverson
132.5 Million

Juwan Howard
131. 2 Million

Stephon Marbury
130.3 Million

Rasheed Wallace
129.3 Million

Kobe Bryant
127.1 Million

Grant Hill
126.0 Million

Tim Duncan
122.0 Million

Ray Allen
120.8 million

Tracy McGrady
115.8 million

Dikembe Mutombo
113.6 million

Michael Finley
109.4 million

Jermaine O’Neal
109 million

Zydrunas Ilgauskas
101.6 million

Just missing the cut….

Antoine Walker 99.2 Million
Eddie Jones 98.7 Million
Antonio McDyess 97.6 Million
Damon Stoudamire 94.7 Million

Now if some of those 100+ millionaires made you think twice about how much “superstars” are paid these days….take a look at these career earnings compared with the greatest team ever assembled:

Team Great Agent:

Keith Van Horn 88.8 Million
Theo Ratliff 87 Million
Tim Thomas 84 Million
Erick Dampier 82.3 Million
Raef LaFrentz 71.3 Million
Steve Francis 67.7 Million
Donyell Marshall 63.1 Million
Austin Croshere 54.3 Million
Adonal Foyle 45 Million
Tony Battie 42.8 Million
TOTAL: 686.3 Million

1992 Dream Team Career Earnings

Patrick Ewing 123 Million
David Robinson 118 Million
Scottie Pippen 109.8 Million
Karl Malone 106.5 Million
Michael Jordan 93.7 Million
John Stockton 68.2 Million
Christian Laettner 61.5 Million
Magic Johnson 46.2 Million
Charles Barkley 43.5 Million
Chris Mullin 39.5 Million
Clyde Drexler 31.6 Million
Larry Bird 26.5 Million
TOTAL: 868 Million

When a team led by a white guy who wore high socks is an Antoine Walker and Eddie Jones career earning away from matching the greatest team ever assembled, I know something is very wrong. Brian Cardinal just reached 23.5 million for his career. Somewhere Isiah is crying, and this time it’s not about getting fired from the Knicks.

-Violent J

Popularity: 2% [?]

For any NBA GM’s thinking that there may be some diamonds in the rough in the D-League this year, you need to see something.  I really had no idea what the quality of play was like in the NBA’s red headed stepchild, that is until I saw the numbers being put up by everyone’s favorite loveable, towel waving, flat shooting, point guard Mateen Cleaves.  Here is Mateen’s numbers in his first 12 games since joining the Bakersfield Jam.

Mateen Cleaves                                          Chris Paul
19.5 PPG on 53% shooting                     21.3 PPG on 49% shooting
10.8 Assists                                             11.4 Assists
5.7 Rebounds                                             4 Rebounds
2.3 Steals                                                 2.7 Steals

MVP!!! MVP!!! MVP!!!

Mateen Cleaves is the Chris Paul of the D-League!  Somebody needs to sign Mateen to a 10 day just to bring him back to earth.  At this torrid pace, Mateen will soon find his way on the D-League Mount Rushmore with Mikki Moore, Randy Livingston, and AAA Rumble, mascot of the Idaho Stampede.

-Violent J

Popularity: 1% [?]