By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
With the season upon us and some of the main transfers being completed at the end of the summer, the annual tradition of presenting the Top10 EuroLeague salaries had to be delayed. And that’s a good thing cause more time usually means better info on a EuroLeague market that after two peculiar years due to the pandemic, returned pretty much to normality with all the players on the list getting at least $2 million per season and six of them getting this number. So pretty much we have a tie between the 5th and the 10th spot on the list.
This “normality” in some cases means more money than expected, as happened with Shane Larkin who emerges as the biggest winner of the summer market, while Milos Teodosic is back on the list and Italy is once again a big money destination.
The numbers mentioned in this post are calculated in US dollars for comparison reasons with NBA salaries. Plus several EuroLeague countries don’t use euros as their currency and the numbers represent net salaries. Especially this year, the two currencies are practically the same, so if you want to talk about Euros, nothing really changes.
Remember that net numbers in Europe are tricky since taxation is different depending on the country. However if you want to compare with NBA salaries, where half the money goes to IRS, just multiply each Euroleague contract by two and you will get a pretty accurate idea.
1. Nikola Mirotic $5M (Barcelona)
Nikola Mirotic still has the top contract in Europe. Per some sources the right net number for this year, the last of his contract, is even bigger, closing to $5,5M on a record deal, in which the exact details were a mystery from day one. Still, the Mirotic deal will go down as the biggest ever in European basketball, rivaled only by the $20 M three-year contract of Josh Childress with Olympiacos, signed back in 2008. It was the price that Barcelona had to pay in order to lure him back to Europe and pretty much the money that Mirotic would get in the NBA market, from the Utah Jazz who had a contract waiting for him.
2. Shane Larkin $4M (Anadolu Efes)
In theory, Efes had decided to cut money this summer and maybe start rebuilding. That was the initial chatter during that season, but everything changed when the team made it again to the Final Four. Billionaire club president Tuncay Ozilhan had decided to keep spending and when Efes managed to get back-to-back titles, the mood in Istanbul was on an all-time high. With Vasilje Micic thinking about leaving for the NBA, locking Shane Larkin in Istanbul became a priority. So not only he stayed but got a raise on a two-year contract which will pay him in total $8M for the next two seasons. His previous salary was $3,7 M per season.
3. Vasilje Micic $3,3M (Anadolu Efes)
Micic entered the $3M club last year and he remains there with a solid raise. He totally deserves the paycheck and his contract expires in the summer of 2024. And yes, there’s an NBA buyout, but a comparable NBA contract to what Micic makes in Europe should be around $6M. That’s why he is not eager, financially wise, to leave Istanbul and any NBA opportunity would have to make him feel comfortable at every level in order to make the jump.
4. Milos Teodosic $2,1M (Virtus Bologna)
Look who’s back! Milos Teodosic joined Virtus when he returned from the NBA back in the summer of 2019 and he signed a contract extension last summer which expires at the end of this season. Virtus had to pay a premium for keeping Teodosic in the EuroCup and that’s why the 35 years old guard remains one of the highest-paid players in Europe and the highest-paid member of Virtus roster.
5. Will Clyburn $2M (Anadolu Efes)
The EuroLeague Final Four MVP of 2019 joined the back-to-back champions of Anadolu Efes and he was paid the right price for his services. As strange as it may sound, despite playing previously for CSKA, this is the highest salary that Clyburn ever had and for the first time, he enters the $2M club. And for Efes, this is money well spent.
6. Mike James $2M (Monaco)
Monaco wanted to keep him and after a long negotiation, Mike James and the club got a deal at the $2M line. Both sides seem content with the final outcome of a salary that is lower than the $2,5M James got before leaving CSKA, but also more than the initial sum of $1,8 M that Monaco was proposing to him. His contract expires in the summer of 2024, so Monaco has locked their leader beyond this season.
7. Nicolo Melli $2 (Milan)
You might remember that Meli – and Malcolm Delaney – just missed the cut the last year, being just under $1,8 million net at the time per Eurohoops sources. That’s not the case anymore and Melli is not the only player in Milan who makes this kind of money. After all, he returned from the NBA with a three-year deal to help Milan return to the top of the EuroLeague, he remains one of the top players in Europe.
8. Kevin Pangos $2 (Milan)
That’s the second player in the Italian who gets on the list with a salary pretty much identical to what Melli is getting. That’s why it made all the sense in the world for him to leave the NBA and returned to Europe, where he had a stellar season with Zenit St.Petersburg back in 2020-21 and he traded it for an NBA chance with the Cavs on a minimum deal spending a lot of time in the G-League.
9. Tomas Satoransky $2 (Barcelona)
The Czech guard also returned from the NBA after a solid six-year presence and he got a contract, which is slightly higher than the one his predecessor, Nick Calathes, had with Barcelona. Considering the fact that Satoransky could get an NBA deal if he wanted to, this price tag is not that bad for Barcelona.
10. Toko Sengelia $2 (Virtus Bologna)
This is the move that really proves the rise of stakes in Italian basketball. Yes, there are four players in the list from Italian clubs, two from Virtus and two from Milan. So basketball in Italy is back for good. Having said that, Toko was instrumental in the return of Virtus Bologna to the EuroLeague, he had his sights on the NBA but ultimately staying in the EuroLeague with such a salary is not bad at all.