2nd round salaries vs 1st round
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 6:23 pm
This is being discussed on the 2023 thread and I think it might be a solid conversation to have. Just think its a waste for those that want to use that thread to actually discuss the players. So with that said I did a little digging
I wanted to see if there really is a benefit of going a year early to be a 2nd round pick, vs coming back to play yourself into a 1st round pick. So I looked into the 2017 draft. I chose that draft because we are seeing the 1st year of everyone's 2nd contract kick in. I used Josh Hart as the baseline comparison since he was the final 1st round pick of that year. I also didnt include Hart's salary for this year. Since again the premise of this is the extra year of salary you get going early as a 2nd rounder vs going back to college for another year.
For those that dont want to look at the player by player breakdown.
30th pick rookie contract vs all 2nd round picks:
2 early entry guys outperformed it
1 senior outperformed it
27 under performed it, even with the extra year
16 of them are no longer in the NBA
4 of them never saw any kind of contract at all from the NBA
Again I went with 2017 because just ease of searching this stuff. Easy to just go straight to career earnings for the 2nd round guys, no extra math needed. I will also say after a cursory look at some of the surrounding drafts 2nd round picks, I wouldnt be shocked if this comes out close to the average.
But ya I will say this is pretty much very close to what I was expecting. A few diamond in the roughs in the 2nd round, about half the guys not having long careers, and financially for the vast majority of them, being a 1st round pick vs a 2nd round pick is a drastic difference.
I wanted to see if there really is a benefit of going a year early to be a 2nd round pick, vs coming back to play yourself into a 1st round pick. So I looked into the 2017 draft. I chose that draft because we are seeing the 1st year of everyone's 2nd contract kick in. I used Josh Hart as the baseline comparison since he was the final 1st round pick of that year. I also didnt include Hart's salary for this year. Since again the premise of this is the extra year of salary you get going early as a 2nd rounder vs going back to college for another year.
Spoiler:
For those that dont want to look at the player by player breakdown.
30th pick rookie contract vs all 2nd round picks:
2 early entry guys outperformed it
1 senior outperformed it
27 under performed it, even with the extra year
16 of them are no longer in the NBA
4 of them never saw any kind of contract at all from the NBA
Again I went with 2017 because just ease of searching this stuff. Easy to just go straight to career earnings for the 2nd round guys, no extra math needed. I will also say after a cursory look at some of the surrounding drafts 2nd round picks, I wouldnt be shocked if this comes out close to the average.
But ya I will say this is pretty much very close to what I was expecting. A few diamond in the roughs in the 2nd round, about half the guys not having long careers, and financially for the vast majority of them, being a 1st round pick vs a 2nd round pick is a drastic difference.