Max Contracts and Roster Space

5 years and $80 Million for Russell Westbrook (16 per year)

5 years and $91 Million for Kevin Durant (16, 17, 18, 19, 21 per year)

Today my question is, as a GM or an Owner of an NBA franchise, can you afford to have 2 max contract players on your team?

First, we have to give some kudos to Russell Westbrook. If he had waited until the end of the season to sign this extension, then the new Rose Rules under the brand spankin’ new CBA would have allowed him to make a bit more money over the life of the contract, so he saved the Thunder a few million dollars over the long run. Good for him.

However, lets consider that the salary cap for the 2011-2012 season is at $58.044 Million dollars. On average, that means that these two players will be taking up slightly more than 50% of the teams available cap room. Lets also assume for a second that James Harden continues his upward trend into the lower echelons of stardom. He would probably be worth 10-12 million dollars a season, so suddenly you have 3 players taking up over $40 million dollars of your cap room every season, which is two thirds of it, even if the cap is raised to $60 million next year.

As an owner, it takes a lot of faith in these players, belief that they will be able to make a return on your huge investment, bring in fans, win games, and sell merchandise.

As a GM, you are depending on these three players to be the leaders of your team for the next 5 years. You are banking on them improving every year, continuing to work hard, and engaging your city. You are depending on them to work with less talent beside them, and to pull more of the responsibility for winning.

As a fellow player, the expectations are interesting. Any player that would want to play on this team, especially if they were in the same tier as James Harden, would have to take a pretty large pay cut to play with the Thunder. Are players willing to do this? I think the current NBA landscape is showing that they are, as players are trying to piggyback on the most talented members of the basketball community in order to win championships.

Like most columns, I end this one returning to the original question: Would you be willing to have 2 max contract players on your team, or would it limit financial flexibility too much? This is a question that teams like New York and the LA Clippers seem to have answered, and one that Dwight Howard's new team will have to consider as well.