2020 NBA AWARDS SEASON
The 2019-20 Tim Duncan All-Stars
Not every NBA player can be paid like a superstar. Who were the 13 best bargain-bin players across the NBA this season?
WHO IS THE BIGGEST BARGAIN IN BASKETBALL? For years, the answer was Tim Duncan. Year after year, Duncan signed a below-market contract and put up mirror-image numbers for two decades, allowing the Spurs to spend elsewhere and surround him with talent. Duncan made only $5 million his final season and just $10 million the three years prior.
The biggest NBA bargains are rookie and max contracts. There’s no salary too high for LeBron or Giannis, and stars on rookie deals are even more valuable. Think of the team you could build around Luka Doncic ($7.7 million), Trae Young ($6.3m), Jayson Tatum ($7.8m), and Pascal Siakam ($2.4m). That quartet combined made less than a single Andrew Wiggins ($27.5m).
The NBA is a salary-cap league, so team building is a zero-sum game. Every player is a salary slot someone else can’t take. Even the best teams need bargain-bin contracts to round out the edges. Almost any team can finagle another couple million dollars under the cap, enough to sign an overlooked veteran or an unknown youngster. Stars get all the credit, but contenders need bargain-bin role players too.
And so the Tim Duncan All-Stars were born. Two simple qualifications:
- You must make $5 million or less…
