Image via USA Today Sports/Brad Penner
14.
Professional sports is one of the few businesses where someone with a high six-figure salary can be considered grossly underpaid.
And it might just be the only industry in the entire world where a $14 million salary makes you the most underpaid person in your entire field—by a long shot.
Elite pro athletes’ multimillion-dollar salaries have long drawn the scorn of people who think that millions of dollars are ridiculous sums given to people “who are just playing a game.”
But they have a tremendous value to their teams and to their communities. There's no other profession where a person can help generate millions more than their salary in ticket sales, merchandise, and television ratings. Doctors may save lives and LeBron James may just be playing a game, but could a doctor have as big of an economic impact as LeBron? Don’t think so.
So, millions of dollars for someone who can do all that is definitely not too much. In fact, some of sports’ brightest stars and millionaires deserve to be making way more for their contributions on the court, the gridiron, and the diamond. With all salary figures courtesy of spotrac.com, here are 13 grossly underpaid athletes.
13.Kyle Lowry
Team: Toronto Raptors
Position: PG
Salary: $12 million
What He’s Worth: $30 million
The Raptors have Lowry on a contract that pays him $12 million both this year and next year. As if that deal weren’t low enough for a three-time All-Star, Canada’s federal and state income taxes are often much higher than they are in the States, meaning that Lowry’s bottom line is even lower than it would be in most American cities.
Toronto still has to be happy about this deal from their standpoint, though. In a world where Timofey Mozgov, who averages 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, makes $16 million a year, $12 million a year for a three-time All-Star is a bargain.
12.C.J. McCollum
Team: Portland Trailblazers
Position: SG
Salary: $3.2 million
What He’s Worth: $25.5 million
McCollum’s four-year, $106 million extension won’t kick in until next season, so he’ll have to figure out how to survive on his $3.2 million salary in the meantime. That change in contract will probably be a welcoming one for McCollum, considering he has made just over $10 million during his first four NBA seasons on his rookie deal.
11.Derek Carr
Team: Oakland Raiders
Position: QB
Salary: $977,519
What He’s Worth: $16 million
Carr was the biggest reason the Raiders made their first playoff appearance in 14 years this past season. Had he been healthy for it, who knows how far they would have gone? Maybe Raiders fans would be celebrating a Super Bowl championship instead of talking relocation to Vegas.
But the face of the Raiders is slated to only make $1.7 million in 2017. This is the deal that Carr signed as a second-round draft pick in 2014, when he was picked 14 spots after Johnny Manziel—who made $2.1 million last season despite not being in the NFL. More proof that life really isn’t fair.
Carr’s low salary, however, is one of the main reasons that the team has about $43 million in cap space, according to overthecap.com. The Raiders will need to extend Carr soon, but his rookie deal is giving Oakland fans a lot to be happy about for 2017. Maybe Raiders fans won’t kill anyone this year if the team puts that money to good use.
10.Paul Goldschmidt
Team: Arizona Diamondbacks
Position: 1B
Salary: $8.75 million
What He’s Worth: $30 million
Goldschmidt might very well be the most underrated player in baseball—and he sure is paid like it. He’s on a five-year, $32 million contract that he signed with the Diamondbacks before the 2014 season. This is a small price to pay for someone who has batted .305 with a .412 on-base percentage over the last four years, all while averaging 30 home runs, 100 RBI, and 20 stolen bases per season.
9.David Johnson
Team: Arizona Cardinals
Position: RB
Salary: $615,000
What He’s Worth: $9 million
Johnson probably earned his fantasy owners more total money than he made in 2016. He actually earned $334.68 for every one of his 2,118 rushing and receiving yards. If he were paid at that rate for every yard he gained, he’d need 41,831 total yards to make as much as Adrian Peterson, 2016’s highest-paid running back ($7.75 million).
8.Corey Kluber
Team: Cleveland Indians
Position: P
Salary: $7.5 million
What He’s Worth: $30 million
Kluber’s $7.5 million salary is not a lot considering that he’s going into his seventh MLB season. It’s even less when considering that he finished the last three in the top 10 of AL Cy Young voting. And it’s far less when you consider the fact that he won the award in 2014. Not to mention the fact that he nearly carried the Indians to the World Series last year by going 4-1 with a 1.83 ERA in the postseason.
7.Isaiah Thomas
Team: Boston Celtics
Position: PG
Salary: $6.5 million
What He’s Worth: $28 million
Thomas was originally just known as the guy who happened to share a name with the guy who ruined the Knicks. Now, he’s known as one of the most prolific scorers in the NBA. But he’s still paid like the guy who happened to share a name with the guy who ruined the Knicks. The MVP candidate’s salary is just $6.5 million this year—and $6.2 million next year.
6.Dak Prescott
Team: Dallas Cowboys
Position: QB
Salary: $635,848
What He's Worth: $20 million
Prescott made just $545,000 last season and isn't due much of a raise in 2017. This is good news for Jerry Jones and the Cowboys, who will be able to invest money in other places since Prescott has three seasons remaining on his rookie deal—and they probably won’t have to give him a raise until after this season at the absolute earliest. It really pays to find a franchise QB in the fourth round.
Even though Prescott seems like a team-first guy, he’s got to feel at least a little bad that Christian Hackenberg, the Jets QB who has thrown a grand total of zero passes in the NFL, will be making almost double what Prescott is making next season.
5.Giannis Antetokounmpo
Team: Milwaukee Bucks
Position: F
Salary: $2.99 million
What He’s Worth: $25 million
“The Greek Freak” recently inked a four-year, $100 million extension that will kick in next season. Before he gets that deal though, he’ll have to continue to make ends meet on just a $3 million salary from his rookie deal. Poor guy.
4.Kris Bryant
Team: Chicago Cubs
Position: 3B
Salary: $1.05 million
What He’s Worth: $25 million
In just his second MLB season, Kris Bryant was named N.L. MVP and helped break a 108-year-old curse. You’d think that kind of effort would have to be worth millions, right?
It was worth $621,000. That’s all he made last year.
Most MLB players in their first three full seasons only make in the six figures, per MLB’s arbitration rules—regardless of how well they play. So that means a litany of MLB stars could have been in this place instead, including A.L. MVP runner-up Mookie Betts (who will make $950,000 this season), Game of Thrones star Noah Syndergaard ($605,000 2017 salary), and former No. 1 overall pick Carlos Correa ($535,000).
All of these guys make less money than Bobby Bonilla, who makes $1.1 million a year from the Mets despite having not played a single MLB game since 2001. Once they hit the open market, however, they’ll probably make A-Rod–type money.
3.Odell Beckham Jr
Team: New York Giants
Position: WR
Salary: $1.89 million
What He’s Worth: $15 million
Beckham is perhaps the biggest sports star in America’s biggest city. While his high-profile ads for Head and Shoulders and Pepsi probably shore up his bottom line, he's due to make just $3.3. million this year. Vincent Jackson, who managed just 173 receiving yards last season, made nearly quadruple what Beckham made last year.
2.Steph Curry
Team: Golden State Warriors
Position: PG
Salary: $12 million
What He’s Worth: $35 million
The “Baby-Faced Assassin” makes millions as the posterboy for Under Armour, but only makes $12.1 million from the Warriors. He signed a four-year, $44 million-deal ahead of the 2013-14 season, and since then he’s won two MVPs and a championship ring, and helped lift the Warriors to a 73-win season.
Despite losing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals, and the fact that his numbers are down across the board this season, it’s guaranteed that Steph will make a lot more money on his next contract—especially considering the NBA’s new player-friendly CBA will be taken into effect after this season.
1.Tom Brady
Team: New England Patriots
Position: QB
Salary: $1 million
What He’s Worth: Whatever he wants
The greatest QB in NFL history could easily make well over $30 million if he were to hit the open market. In fact, he could probably walk right into owner Robert Kraft’s office and shake him down for another $10 million if he were playing for money.
But Brady voluntarily plays on a unique deal for a lower salary so that the Patriots have more money to spend elsewhere. His deal features a base salary of just $1 million this season (as it has for quite some time), and the remaining $13 million is paid as a signing bonus. Brady has only the 22nd-highest cap hit among NFL QBs this upcoming season. Even Sam Bradford makes more than Brady.
Brady actually restructured his deal last season for the intent of a low base salary and a high signing bonus to get around the money he’d lose for his “Deflategate” suspension. He would have lost over $2 million on his original deal, but since he only has a $1 million base salary, he only lost about $250,000. The Patriots outsmart Roger again.
Brady’s low overall compensation is at least part of the reason why the reigning Super Bowl–champion Patriots have the fifth-most cap space in the league this offseason. New England has a whopping $61 million in cap space, per overthecap.com. This is by far the most of any contender, so expect Brady to be end up back in the Super Bowl next February.