The Portland Trail Blazers have made questionable signings throughout the past few years, so much so that they've actually spent just as much in three of their bench players as the Golden State Warriors have spent in their original “Big Three” of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green for the 2016-17 season.
As pointed out by Reddit user Reetae27, Portland spent $558 more in signing Allen Crabbe, Evan Turner, and Meyers Leonard to their respective deals — a clear disparity of talent that showed in the first round of the playoffs.
The Warriors' Big Three individually are the three highest-earning players in the roster after Kevin Durant, per HoopsHype salary report — Thompson, $16.6 million; Green, $15.3 million; and Curry with a bargain contract of $12.1 million.
Golden State's franchise archetype has been based on Curry's steal of a four-year, $44 million extension he signed in 2013, when the team took a chance on an injury-prone player with what seemed to be chronic ankle issues — later resulting in a pair of championships and a couple of MVP awards — becoming arguably the NBA's all-time contractual bargain.
The blue-and-gold also shed potential re-signings that could be a reason for concern later in the deal, shedding contracts from Andrew Bogut, Anderson Varejao, and Festus Ezeli — the latter two which the Blazers tacked on for a combined $16.7 million.
Portland spent $18.5 million on Crabbe, $16.4 million on Turner, and $9.2 million on Leonard — and while the first two can be attributed to a new NBA market with an inflated collective bargaining agreement, committing that much money will prove tough to shake as all three players are under contract until 2019-20.
In addition to that, Portland sports a $119.7 million player salary for 2016-17 while Golden State is at a mere $107.6 million (eight of their players made $2 million or less).
So is it really cheating the NBA when a franchise spends smarter than another?
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