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Home / Sport / Basketball / NBA

Stats: Breaking down Steven Adams' mega contract

NZ Herald
1 Nov, 2016 04:31 AM3 mins to read

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Steven Adams has just cashed in big time. And we're not talking about a cliché, New Zealand "big time". Photo / Getty Images.

Steven Adams has just cashed in big time. And we're not talking about a cliché, New Zealand "big time". Photo / Getty Images.

Steven Adams has just cashed in big time. And we're not talking about a cliché, New Zealand "big time".

We're talking about a contract that sees him move into the top 10 for player salaries in the NBA.

Adams has recommitted to the Thunder for a further four years at a reported annual rate of $NZ35 million to surpass Team Oracle boss Sir Russell Coutts (NZ$13 million per year) at the summit of New Zealand's sporting rich list.

NEWS: Thunder signs Steven Adams and Victor Oladipo to multi-year contract extensions. https://t.co/qWVXokz43H #ThunderBasketball pic.twitter.com/XxG8HEmjHS

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 1, 2016

Thunder GM Sam Presti on signing Adams and Oladipo. pic.twitter.com/FlLwcTQAeZ

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) November 1, 2016
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Here's the breakdown of what the reported US$100 million (NZ$140m) contract means.

$35 million

First things first, Adams will earn $35m a year on his four year deal.

How does that compare?

The New England Patriots' Tom Brady is currently on a two-year deal earning $28.5m a year.

World golf's top three - Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, and Rory McIlroy - earned a combined total of $34m in PGA Tour earnings in 2015.

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And the Premier League's Hull City have a wage bill of $43m for the 2016/17 season - that's $43m spread across approximately 36 players.

$820,312 an hour

Here's how Adams' money will look like game-by-game.

If he plays every minute of every regular season game, he'd earn $8,892 a minute while on court. He'd be getting $533,536 per hour of gameplay.

If we take his season averages, and adjust for his new role in Oklahoma this season, we can expect him to play roughly 32 minutes a game. If he played those minutes for every regular season game - excluding playoffs - he'd earn $13,671 a minute while on court.

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He'd get $820,310 per hour of gameplay - enough to buy a house in Auckland every sixty minutes.

$64,220 per shot

Based on Adams' shot count from last season - dividing those shots by the minutes he played - we can assume that if he plays 32 minutes a game, he'd take 2180 shots over the next four years.

That's $64,220 per shot.

From the same math, Adams could score around 4264 points over the next four years, meaning he'd earn $32,833 per point.

$34,783,644

That's the combined amount of guaranteed money that the Thunder have given 14 of their players this season - with Adams' current contract included.

Adams' could afford to pay every one of those 14 players, and still have $216,356 to himself.

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11th on Player Salaries

With $35 million a year coming his way next season, Adams would sit eleventh on the list for players salaries.

That would be level with Dirk Nowitzki and ahead of Chris Paul.

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