Top 5: Least paid NBA MVP players
Many agree that the current NBA MVP, Stephen Curry, is underpaid. While Kobe Bryant made the most money this past season(2014–2015), receiving 23.5 million, Curry only got 10.6 million.
Original date posted: September 1, 2015
Here’s a list of the top 5 least paid MVPs since 2000
5. Tim Duncan
The now 5x NBA champion had a great run in the 2001–2002 season averaging 25.5 points, 12.7 rebounds while shooting 50.8% FG. Duncan was getting paid $11.8 million. Duncan was drafted in 1997 as the 1st overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs. He was an All-Star for the fourth time in just his first five seasons in the NBA. In the postseason, the Spurs only made it to the second round of the playoffs losing 4–1, to the Los Angeles Lakers who ended up winning the championship that year. If Duncan retires after his current contract with the Spurs he will have spent 20 years on one single team.
4. Stephen Curry
Curry started the 2014–2015 season already considered one of the best 3 point shooters in the game. But not too many people outside of Golden State Warriors fans could have predicted the season the Warriors and Stephen Curry would have. The Warriors finished with a very impressive 67–15 season record. The team set many franchise records including most wins and longest win streak, which is at 16. When the Warriors offered the contract to Curry, there was still uncertainty in his longevity as a player due to an ankle injury during the 2012 playoffs. In the 2014–15 season, Curry averaged 23.8 points, 7.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds while shooting nearly 49 % FG, and 44% 3PG. The Warriors ended up winning the NBA championship by beating the Cavaliers in a six-game finals series
3. Allen Iverson
Considered pound-for-pound the best player that has played in the NBA. Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers finished the 2000–2001 season with a record of 56–26, the best record in the East. Iverson was only getting paid $10.1 million and took the league by storm. Iverson had a 54 point season-high game against the Cavaliers. He was leading the league in points averaging 31.1 points to go along with 5.5 assists and nearly 3 steals. In the playoffs, the Sixers made it to the finals but lost to the Lakers 4–1. In the game that Philadelphia won, Iverson showed up big time with 38 points.
2. Steve Nash
In the 2004–2005 season Steve Nash had his first NBA MVP season and was only getting paid $5.7 million. In the following season, Nash also won MVP but for the sake of the article, I will only talk about his first MVP run. Nash is now considered one of the best point guards and best passers in the game. Nash was drafted 15th overall in the 1996 draft not many would have predicted the all-star career he would have. In 2004–2005 season he averaged 15.5 points, 11.5 assists, and doing so efficiently. Phoenix went to the western conference finals and lost to the Spurs. Nash remains one of two foreign-born players to win an MVP, only accompanied by Dirk Nowitzki.
- Derrick Rose
Rose was merely ranked 126th in highest played NBA players. He received the NBA MVP in the 2010–2011 season getting paid $5.5 million. Why was he getting paid so little? Simple, he was still in his rookie contract. Rose averaged 25 points and 7.7 assists. More importantly, he played in and started 81 games that season. At only 22, he was the youngest to win the NBA MVP award. Chicago ended the season with the best record in the NBA at 62–20. Chicago made it to the Eastern Conference Finals but fell short to LeBron and Wade with the Miami Heat.
All photos by Keith Allison/ Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0
