2015/16 Salary Rankings: Small Forwards

Hoops Rumors is in the process of ranking the cap hit for each NBA player by position. I previously ran down the point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center salaries for the 2014/15 season. I’ve also begun looking ahead to the 2015/16 campaign with a rundown of the cap hits for the point guards and shooting guards. Next on the agenda will be a look forward at the salaries for small forwards already inked to deals for next season.

All told, NBA teams have committed a total of $344,562,057 in cap hits so far for next season to the men manning the wing around the league. The average hit for the three spot so far for 2015/16 is a very healthy $6,380,779, with Joe Johnson of the Nets topping the list with an impressive $24,894,863 coming his way. However, it should be noted that the list and rankings will change greatly depending on how the free agent market develops next summer.

I also should add that teams won’t necessarily pay out every dollar listed here. There are quite a few players who have non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts. Some of those players will be sweating it out until the January 2015 deadline. That’s when teams must waive players with no specific guarantee date written into their contracts to avoid having to guarantee their salaries for the rest of that season.

Most salaries align with cap hits, but that’s not the case for players like Jeremy Lin , who’s receiving close to $15MM from the Lakers during the 2014/15 season even though his cap hit was little more than half that amount, because of the contract he signed through the Gilbert Arenas Provision. In addition, incentive clauses that a player either triggers or fails to meet can leave a player with more or less money than his cap hit reflects. Still, the purpose of this list is to show the relative pay scale by position, which is why all contracts are included in this post.

The league’s small forwards are listed below, in descending order of cap hit for next season:

      1. Joe Johnson (Nets) $24,894,863
      2. Carmelo Anthony (Knicks) $22,875,000
      3. LeBron James (Cavs) $21,573,398 [Player Option]
      4. Kevin Durant (Thunder) $20,158,622
      5. Paul George (Pacers) $17,120,106
      6. Gordon Hayward (Jazz) $15,409,570
      7. Chandler Parsons (Mavs) $15,361,500
      8. Rudy Gay (Kings) $12,403,101
      9. Nicolas Batum (Blazers) $12,235,750
      10. Danilo Gallinari (Nuggets) $11,559,259
      11. Tyreke Evans (Pelicans) $10,734,586
      12. Luol Deng (Heat) $10,151,612 [Player Option]
      13. Gerald Wallace (Celtics) $10,105,855
      14. Jeff Green (Celtics) $9.2MM [Player Option]
      15. Trevor Ariza (Rockets) $8,193,030
      16. Wilson Chandler (Nuggets) $7,171,662
      17. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Hornets) $6,331,404
      18. Andrew Wiggins (Wolves) $5,758,680
      19. Martell Webster (Wizards) $5,613,500
      20. Paul Pierce (Wizards) $5,543,725 [Player Option]
      21. P.J. Tucker (Suns) $5.5MM
      22. Josh Smith $5.4MM [Waived by Pistons via the stretch provision]
      23. Nick Young (Lakers) $5,219,169
      24. Jabari Parker (Bucks) $5,152,440
      25. Chase Budinger (Wolves) $5MM [Player Option]
      26. Kostas Papanikolaou (Rockets) $4,797,664 [Team Option]
      27. Otto Porter (Wizards) $4,662,960
      28. Caron Butler (Pistons) $4.5MM
      29. Thabo Sefolosha (Hawks) $4MM
      30. Harrison Barnes (Warriors) $3,873,398
      31. Steve Novak (Jazz) $3,750,001
      32. Terrence Ross (Raptors) $3,553,917
      33. Matt Barnes (Clippers) $3,542,500
      34. Mirza Teletovic (Nets) $3,368,100
      35. Maurice Harkless (Magic) $2,894,059
      36. Mike Miller (Cavs) $2,854,940 [Player Option]
      37. Doug McDermott (Bulls) $2,380,440
      38. Danny Granger (Heat) $2,170,465 [Player Option]
      39. Shabazz Muhammad (Wolves) $2,056,920
      40. T.J. Warren (Suns) $2,041,080
      41. Tony Snell (Bulls) $1,535,880
      42. Bruno Caboclo (Raptors) $1,524,000
      43. Solomon Hill (Pacers) $1,358,880
      44. Shawne Williams (Heat) $1,356,146
      45. Rodney Hood (Jazz) $1,348,440
      46. Damjan Rudez (Pacers) $1,149,500
      47. Kyle Anderson (Spurs) $1,142,879
      48. Al-Farouq Aminu (Mavs) $1,100,602 [Player Option]
      49. Robert Covington (Sixers) $1MM
      50. Robbie Hummel (Wolves) $880K
      51. Damien Inglis (Bucks) $855K
      52. Cleanthony Early (Knicks) $845,059
      53. Jerami Grant (Sixers) $845,059
      54. James Ennis (Heat) $507,336

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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