This is our fourth annual look at how players' #NBArank rankings compare to their salaries. This analysis shows which players and teams return the most bang for the buck, and which don't perform well enough to justify their high salaries.
By plotting every player's #NBArank score with his salary, a regression analysis finds the curve that best fits the data. This curve represents an "expected" salary for any given #NBARank score. Players whose plot points fall above the curve are overpaid; those below it are underpaid, and the vertical distance between the two shows by how much.
This chart shows every player, with the line indicating the leaguewide regression curve. The curve is exponential, so the higher the #NBArank score, the faster the expected salary climbs. Colors represent different contract types, and the older the player, the bigger his plot point.
No players gets paid exactly what we'd expect based on #NBArank alone. But performance clearly has a big influence -- statistical analysis tells us that #NBArank explains about 63 percent of the salary data. The remaining 37 percent comes from other factors, such as maximum salary rules, age, the type of contract signed, the effects of injuries, negotiating skill, and even being in the right place at the right time.
This season the most correctly paid player is Detroit's Hasheem Thabeet, whose actual and expected salaries differ by just 477 bucks.
Most overpaid and underpaid by amount
Lakers star