The Going Rate For Top 10 Assist Producers

Only two players averaged more than 10 assists per game last season, and there's no convenient numerical threshold to assess the salaries for elite passing talent as we've done for the dozen players who averaged 20 or more points last season and the eight who collected 10 or more rebounds per game. So, we've simply taken a look at the top 10 guys on the assist leaderboard from last season. On average, they're paid less than their scoring and rebounding counterparts, and thanks to paycuts for Steve Nash and Andre Miller that aren't completely offset by raises for the others on the list, they'll make even less in 2012/13 than they did last season.

Here are the top 10 assist producers from 2011/12, along with their salaries for the past and coming seasons and what they make for each assist on their nightly average.

Some observations:

• Deron Williams was the only player to finish in the top 10 in assists and scoring average last year, but thanks to the timing of his contract and the new CBA, he won't get the highest raise among players on this list. That distinction belongs to Chris Paul, who was making just as much as Williams did last season and will get slightly more in 2012/13.
• Andre Miller makes more money and was a slightly more prolific assist maker last season, but Nuggets teammate Ty Lawson is the starter and saw more minutes per game in 2011/12.
• Lawson will probably soon make more than Miller when his rookie deal runs out after this season. Lawson, John Wall and Ricky Rubio all made this list on their rookie scale contracts, representing bargains for their teams. Rubio was the only first-year player last season to be either a top 10 assist producer, 20+ PPG scorer or 10+ RPG rebounder.
• The Lakers, Clippers, Nets and Wolves all have a player on this list as well as the scoring and rebounding lists.

Storytellers Contracts and ShamSports were used in the creation of this post.