Rookie Salary Scale Released

From Darren Rovell of CNBC.com:

1. Blake Griffin LAC $16,071,840
2. Hasheem Thabeet MEM $14,379,840
3. James Harden OKC $12,913,440
4. Tyreke Evans SAC $11,642,640
5. Ricky Rubio MIN $10,542,960
6. Johnny Flynn MIN $9,576,000
7. Stephen Curry GS $8,741,520
8. Jordan Hill NYK $8,008,560
9. DeMar DeRozan TOR $7,361,52
10. Brandon Jennings MIL $6,993,360
11. Terrence Williams NJN $6,643,560
12. Gerald Henderson CHA $6,311,520
13. Tyler Hansbrough IND $5,995,800

The theory behind the rookie salary scale is that it prevents contract holdouts. And its succeeded in that regard. But its also had the unintended consequence of deterring many international players from entering the NBA. High Euro and Spanish league salaries, combined with complicated buyouts (Ricky Rubio), have prevented players like Tiago Splitter and Fran Vazquez from joining NBA teams. That said, the NBA’s pay scale makes sense. There are always going to be first, second, third, and potentially fourth year players being paid less than market wage, but the payscale also prevents teams from paying big money to small performance players like Kwame Brown and Andrea Bargnani.

(Via RealGM)