NBA Top 50 Salaries: Who's Overpaid?

Hoopsworld has a great listing on their site of The Top 50 Highest Paid Players in the NBA for the 2012/12 season.  Now normally when these lists come out there are some names that stick out like a sore thumb near the top of the list, a few "What GM was dumb enough to give that player that contract" moments.  This upcoming season's list isn't as bad as normal, but there are still a few guys who you can safely call "overpaid".  Here are our picks, along with their 2012/13 salary and salary rank.

 
Carmelo Anthony - New York - $20,463,024 - #3

Many would argue that Melo isn't even really a 'star' like most claim him to be.  Can you win a title with Anthony as your top dog?  An NCAA one, yes.  An NBA one?  Absolutely not.


Amar'e Stoudemire - New York - $19,948,799 - #4

A soon-to-be 30-year-old with previous serious eye and knee maladies who is coming off of one of his worst seasons ever and who doesn't mesh well with your '#1 guy'.  Sounds like typical Knicks to me.


Joe Johnson - Brooklyn - $19,752,645 - #5

This contract was immediately panned universally when Johnson signed it with the Hawks.  He's 31 now and has never been a legit '#1 guy'.  Luckily, $20 million is walking around money for Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.


Rudy Gay - Memphis - $16,460,538 - #17

Rudy Gay has never been an All-Star and you could argue he is only the third-best player on his own team (behind Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol).  Pretty steep salary (that is only going to get steeper the next three years) for a third wheel.


Carlos Boozer - Chicago - $15,000,000 - #19

Is Carlos Boozer a legit #2 guy on a NBA contender?  Nope.  Turning 31 in November, will Carlos Boozer be getting better as a player?  Nope.  But that won't stop his contract from jumping up to $16.8 million in 2014/15.


Brook Lopez - Brooklyn - $13,668,750 - #24

$61 million over five years is a risky investment in a big man who is a poor rebounder and is coming off of foot problems.


Eric Gordon - New Orleans - $13,668,750 - #27

Scoring is generally overrated, so no surprise seeing Eric Gordon's name on this list.


Emeka Okafor - Washington - $13,490,000 - #31

That's a lot of scratch for a role player.


Kevin Martin - Houston - $12,349,675 - #39

See Gordon, Eric.


Ben Gordon - Charlotte - $12,400,000 - #40

See Martin, Kevin - except Gordon can't even score anymore.


Hedo Turkoglu - Orlando - $11,815,850 - #43

Too bad Hedo doesn't know how to 'ball' anymore.


Corey Maggette - Detroit - $10,924,138 - #48

Come on - you really don't need me to explain this one, do you?!