Over the years, the NBA has become one of the premier leagues that provide hefty bags to their athletes. However, there are players who are criticized by fans and analysts for having some of the biggest contracts but not contributing enough to the team. Big names such as Ben Simmons, Zion Williamson, and Kawhi Leonard remain continuously under attack by fans for missing a lot of matches. On Instagram, a list of such athletes in the NBA was posted that compared the money they make in their present contracts.
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The list compares five players who miss the most number of games in the league due to injuries, i.e. Ben Simmons, Zion Williamson, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie Irving. All these names are some of the most important faces of their teams and are under hefty contracts from their respective franchises. This means that their missing so many matchups severely hit their teams’ position in the season.
Ben Simmons tops the list of players earning most per match
In the 2022-23 season, Zion played 29 matches, Ben 42, and Kawhi 52, while Anthony and Kyrie played 56 and 60 games respectively. These numbers are rather worrying for their franchises as having a big gun and not being able to use might be frustrating.
Keeping in mind their contracts, Ben Simmons comes out to be the player earning the maximum amount per game, followed by Zion Williamson and Kawhi Leonard. Ben earns “$394,717 per game,” Zion $382,994, Kawhi earns $367, 717, Anthony Davis $342,437 and Kyrie is at the last with $342,346 per game.
Stats tell that these five being hurt is not a good sign for their teams
These top five most per-game paid players have not been able to achieve the championship while being injured. Out of them, only Anthony Davis in 2020, with the Lakers, and Kawhi Leonard in 2019, with Toronto Raptors, have won the trophy. However, the thing to note here is that in both of these seasons, Anthony and Kawhi were healthy and contributed to their team’s victories.
There is little doubt that Anthony, Ben, Kawhi, Zion, and Kyrie are magical athletes on the basketball court and can play the role of match-winners for their teams. But that is only possible when they are on the court doing what they are meant to do the best to their maximum capacity.
