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Lakers, Pistons and Celtics: The Championship-Caliber Contracts of 1985-1989

By N.B. Lindberg

LOS ANGELES, CA - May 1988: Kareem-Abdul Jabbar #33, head Coach Pat Riley, James Worthy #42, owner Jerry Buss and Mychal Thompson #43 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate in the locker room after defeating the Detroit Pistons in the 1988 NBA Finals, at The Forum, Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - May 1988: Kareem-Abdul Jabbar #33, head Coach Pat Riley, James Worthy #42, owner Jerry Buss and Mychal Thompson #43 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate in the locker room after defeating the Detroit Pistons in the 1988 NBA Finals, at The Forum, Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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1985 NBA Champion: Los Angeles Lakers
League Salary Cap: $3,600,000
Championship-Caliber Contract: James Worthy

James Worthy might be the most important reason for the Lakers’ dominance in the 1980s. Yes, even more than Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The reason is simple, Worthy was worthy of a much larger contract than the one he had. In 1985 he made a paltry $400,000, 11.1 percent of the total salary cap. For less than most mid-major college basketball coaches make nowadays Worthy produced 10.1 Win Shares between the regular season and playoffs.

His production was worth $872,640 in value, 24.24 percent of the salary cap. All told, Worthy gave the Lakers $472,640 in surplus-value in the 1985 season good for 13.1 percent of the cap. While these numbers seem minuscule, in today’s NBA it would be roughly equivalent to $14.34 million in surplus-value alone.

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The importance of Worthy’s production relative to cost cannot be understated. The Lakers paid Magic Johnson $2.5 million, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar $1.53 million, and Mitch Kupchak $1.15 million in 1984-85. Those three combined to make $5.18 million when the salary cap was only $3.6 million. The soft cap still gave rich teams an advantage but Worthy played at an All-Star level for the cost of a rotation piece.

The Lakers were able to beat the Celtics 4-2 in the NBA Finals, but if James Worthy had played down to his contract the Celtics would have likely repeated as NBA champions. Worthy wouldn’t remain cheap as the decade progressed and slowly he overtook Kareem Adbul-Jabbar as the Lakers’ second-best player. However, 1985 was the peak of Worthy’s value from a contract and production standpoint.