Michael+Baumann

BY TAKING BIG PAY CUTS， KEVIN DURANT AND DIRK NOWITZKI ARENT MAKING ROOM FOR THEIR TEAMMATES. THEYRE JUST SAVING MONEY FOR THEIR EMPLOYERS.

接受大幅降薪，凱文·杜兰特和德克·诺维茨基并没有给队友腾出空间。他们只是在为自己的雇主省钱罢了。

On Thursday， Dirk Nowitzki， the NBAs active leader in games and minutes played， points， free throws， and defensive rebounds， re-signed with the Dallas Mavericks for $10 million over two years. Compared to Nowitzkis $25 million team option for 2017–18， which Dallas declined， its a huge haircut for the future Hall of Famer， but Nowitzki is 39 years old and coming off a season in which he played fewer minutes per game （and fewer games overall）， scored fewer points per game， and attempted fewer shots per game than he had in any season since his rookie year. Nowitzki is certainly on the decline， and far from his MVP form of a decade ago.

周四，在出场次数，上场时间，得分，罚球和防守篮板排名现役第一的德克·诺维茨基，以两年1000万美元的价格与达拉斯小牛完成续约。诺维茨基原本2017-18赛季的合同金额为2500万美元，拥有球队选项的小牛选择了拒绝，对于这个未来的名人堂成员来说，新合同属于巨幅降薪。但诺维茨基已经39岁了，前一个赛季他的场均上场时间（总出场次数），场均得分，和场均出手次数均少于新秀赛季。诺维茨基当然处于下滑阶段，状态也远不及十年前的MVP阶段。

Still， Nowitzki will make less over his two-year deal than free-agent bench guy Amir Johnson will make with the Sixers next season alone. Hell make $8 million less per year than Joe Ingles （career high 7.1 PPG in his age-29 season last year）， less than half as much as Zach Randolph， whos almost as old as Nowitzki， and only a half-million per year more than Justin — not Jrue， Justin — Holiday. But this deal keeps him with the only NBA franchise hes ever played for， and Nowitzki has already made over a quarter of a billion dollars in salary over his career. While some might question the wisdom of taking an 80 percent pay cut to keep living in Texas and playing for a lottery-bound club， hes a grown-up and can do what he likes.

即便如此，诺维茨基两年合同挣到的钱，还不如自由球员阿米尔·约翰逊与76人下赛季的一年合同多。他年均比乔·英格尔斯（29岁的他上赛季场均只有7. 1分）少拿800万美元，他的年薪几乎只有和他差不多大的扎克·兰多夫的一半，也只比贾斯汀——不是朱，是贾斯汀·霍勒迪多50万美元。不过这份合同把他留在了生涯唯一效力过的NBA球队，这些年里，诺维茨基已经挣到了超过2.5亿美元。尽管有些人质疑接受80%降薪，继续生活在德州，为一支注定乐透的球队打球是否明智，但诺维茨基毕竟是成年人，他有权做自己想做的事。

Like Golden States Kevin Durant， whos fresh off a $10 million pay cut of his own， Nowitzki can do whatever he likes， but that doesnt make it admirable.

和勇士队刚刚接受了1000万美元降薪的凯文·杜兰特一样，诺维茨基想做什么都可以，但这并不意味着他的行为值得赞赏。

The putative reason Durant took less money to stay with the Warriors was so that money could be redistributed to his teammates and strengthen the teams roster. To Golden States credit， thats happened： Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala got pay bumps， and Nick Young， the NBAs god of folly， came up the coast from the Lakers at a cost of $5.2 million. The rules that govern NBA salaries and transactions are Byzantine to say the least — just look at all the shifting pieces behind Chris Pauls move to the Rockets from the Clippers — but in short， Durants pay cut didnt make the Livingston and Iguodala extensions possible， it made them cheaper， both in terms of the Warriors overall salary outlay and in terms of their luxury tax bill. Warriors ownership， led by venture capitalist Joe Lacob， could have paid Durant， Livingston， and Iguodala and just gone deeper into the luxury tax， but they chose not to. （Maybe Young doesnt come over as the teams midlevel exception if Durant takes the max， but I dont think Swaggy P is going to be what puts the Warriors over the top in 2017–18.）endprint

杜兰特少拿钱留在勇士公认的原因，就是可以把钱分给队友，强化球队的阵容。……