Lakers Get Paid to Be Better Than Suns : Phoenix Doesn’t Match Up With L.A. on the Court or at the Bank

If the Lakers’ playoff series with Phoenix were determined at the bank, they would never have to play it on the court.

So far, it has been a classic mismatch, basically because the Suns have too many injuries to compete. As resoundingly as the Lakers have been outscoring and outplaying the Suns, however, they have been outspending them by an even greater margin.

The Lakers, who have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series and can wrap it up with a victory tonight in Game 3 at Veterans Coliseum, pay their players an average of $730,000, easily highest in the league. Their total payroll of $8.75 million is also the league’s highest.

Boston’s NBA champion Celtics, for instance, have a payroll of $6.17 million, but trail the Lakers by more than $2.4 million.

The Suns pay their players $4.1 million, or less than half of what the Lakers pay. The Suns’ average player salary is $340,000, also less than half the Laker average.

After two games and two Laker blowouts, you could ask whether the Laker advantage over the Suns in player salaries means anything on the court.

If the answer is yes, then you could wonder whether the Suns ever had a chance.

Can Kyle Macy stop Magic Johnson? More specifically, can $300,000 stop $2.5 million? Put another way, shouldn’t the higher paid player be expected to dominate his much less wealthy matchup?

“Out here, it doesn’t matter how much money you make, but how you play,” Johnson said. “Money don’t play no game on the floor. It’s what you do when you get out there yourself.”

Johnson is in the first year of a $25-million contract worth $2.5 million this season. Macy, his matchup at point guard, is making $300,000 this season, after which he will become a free agent.

Macy said that, in theory, players and teams who make more money than their opponents should win every time.

“Ideally, I guess that would be the way to look at it, but in this league, I don’t think you can evaluate talent on the basis of salaries,” Macy said.

Maybe not, but there seems to be a correlation in this series. Take the combined salaries of the starting lineups. The first five Lakers make $5.075 million, the Suns $1.145 million. Johnson alone makes more than twice what the entire Phoenix starting lineup makes.

Of course, there wouldn’t be such a wide discrepancy in salaries if three of the Suns’ highest-paid players were not sitting out the series with injuries.

Walter Davis, who makes $670,000, James Edwards at $406,000, and Larry Nance at $400,000 have been replaced in the starting lineup by Jay Humphries at $190,000, Charles Pittman at $85,000, and Mike Sanders at $75,000.

Laker reserve Mitch Kupchak, at $1.15 million, makes more money than the entire Suns’ bench, which collectively earns $1.068 million, and Bob McAdoo, at $933,000, makes nearly as much.

Laker owner Jerry Buss, the man responsible for the highest payroll in the league, said his creation is a result of winning games.

“Ultimately, as you continue to win, the salaries continue on up,” he said. “But it’s after the fact. You have to win first.”

The price of success that Buss is willing to pay has put the Lakers into the NBA final series for the last three years. Buss does not believe, however, that the Lakers have an overpowering edge on the Suns based solely on salaries.

“I can’t see the connection,” he said. “Our salaries aren’t that much different than last year, when both teams were in the conference finals.”

Actually, the salaries are quite different. Last year, the average Laker salary was $560,000. It jumped to $730,000 this season, the biggest increase in the league. The Suns’ average salary was $300,000 last season and is $40,000 more this season.

Coach Pat Riley said the Lakers are naturally paid more because of their history of recent success, but he said not every high-priced team is like the Lakers.

“You cannot equate what players are about with what their salaries are,” he said. “There are players who make a lot of money who play on teams that get beat.”

Riley used the 1981-82 Cleveland Cavaliers as an example. Former owner Ted Stepien signed Edwards and Scott Wedman to generous offer sheets, but the Cavaliers finished 15-67.

The Lakers won the NBA title that season, after which their player salaries were well on the way to becoming the highest in the history of the NBA.

Riley said that the size of the Laker payroll is nothing to apologize for.

“Maybe it’s why we win,” he said. “We establish our worth by what we do. Our players just happen to make a lot of money because they produce.”

So the Laker limousine shows up at the starting line, trying to complete a quick three-game sweep of the Suns’ economy model.

Phoenix power forward Pittman, making $85,000, is going against the earning power of $325,000 Laker Kurt Rambis. At small forward, Sanders makes $330,000 less than James Worthy.

Only at shooting guard is the money even relatively close, where Jay Humphries, at $190,000, matches up with Byron Scott at $350,000.

At center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s $1.5 million salary is three times that of 6-9 Alvan Adams, who is forced to play center instead of forward because of injuries.

“It’s tough to be competitive when you’re 6-9,” Michael Cooper said. “Every time Kareem turns around, he’s so close to the basket he’s finger-rolling. It’s not a matter of money, then, at all. It’s a matter of height and it’s a matter of talent.”

Adams said that the Suns would have trouble with the Lakers anyway, whether you matched bank accounts, talent, jump shots or anything else.

“Sure, they should be killing us even more if you base it on salaries, but we try not to think about it,” he said. “I used to think about the big-city team with the rich owner. But the only incentive we have in a series like this is, if we win, it would be one of the great upsets.”

Riley said that Phoenix Coach John MacLeod could use the mismatch in salaries to his advantage if he wanted to create an issue.

“He could use it as an incentive,” Riley said. “He could say something like, ‘What is this? All those $800,000 players and you’re making nothing. Why don’t you show them something?”’

MacLeod, though, said money is no object in his coaching tactics for the playoffs.

“The concerns of money are during the off-season,” he said.

Whatever the impact, if any, whether real or imagined, that Laker salaries have had in this series, even Riley had to admit that the Lakers may have a little bit of an edge.

Shouldn’t a $400,000 player be able to beat a $70,000 player?

“Maybe,” Riley said. “But if that $75,000 guy starts winning like we do, he might be a $400,000 guy himself.”

Laker Notes Tipoff time for Game 3 is 6:30 p.m., PST. If a fourth game is necessary, it will be played here Thursday night. . . . Should the Lakers end the series tonight, they will await the winner of the Dallas-Portland series. If that series goes five games, the Lakers will probably open the second round in the Forum next Tuesday night, with Game 2 on Thursday night. If the Portland-Dallas series ends in four games, the Lakers will probably open Saturday afternoon in the Forum, with Game 2 next Tuesday night. . . . Kareem Abdul-Jabbar continues to take medication for strep throat, but supposedly he is not bothered by it. Abdul-Jabbar played Saturday’s Game 2 with the illness. . . . According to the Suns’ latest injury update, neither forward Charles Jones, who has an ankle injury, nor center James Edwards, who has a bad back, will play in Game 3.

THE PLAYOFF BREAKDOWN Team by Team PLAYOFF TEAMS

Payroll Avg. In millions salary of dollars Lakers $8.75 730,000 Boston 6.17 515,000 Philadelphia 5.45 455,000 Portland 5.11 345,000 New Jersey 4.75 395,000 Detroit 4.1 335,000 Phoenix 4.1 340,000 Chicago 4.0 328,000 Washington 3.6 300,000 Cleveland 3.5 292,000 Denver 3.5 292,000 Houston 3.4 285,000 San Antonio 3.4 285,000 Milwaukee 3.1 257,000 Dallas 2.535 230,000 Utah 2.515 210,000

NON-PLAYOFF TEAMS

Payroll Avg. In millions salary of dollars New York $5.35 $342,000 Seattle 4.125 345,000 Atlanta 3.7 300,000 Clippers 3.675 305,000 Kansas City 3.6 300,000 Indiana 2.435 205,000 Golden State 2,332 195,000

Note: There are some differences between total team salary and average team salary, but they are based upon certain teams paying more than 12 players. For instance, although New York has a higher payroll than New Jersey, the Knicks have an average salary of $100,000 less per man than the Nets. That is because there are more players being paid by New York and their contracts are included in the total dollar amount of the team’s salaries. THE SALARY BREAKDOWN

Los Angeles Lakers Phoenix Suns STARTERS POINT GUARD Magic Johnson $2.5 million Kyle Macy $300,500 SHOOTING GUARD Byron Scott $350,000 Jay Humphries $190,000 SMALL FORWARD James Worthy $400,000 Mike Sanders $70,000 POWER FORWARD Kurt Rambis $325,000 Charles Pittman $85,000 CENTER Kareem Abdul-Jabbar $1.5 million Alvan Adams $500,000 RESERVES Lakers Mitch Kupchak $1.15 million Bob McAdoo $933,000 Michael Cooper $336,000 Mike McGee $200,000 Larry Spriggs $90,000 Ronnie Lester $65,000 Chuck Nevitt $19,005 Suns Maurice Lucas $650,000 Rod Foster $143,000 Alvin Scott $120,000 Michael Holton $90,000 Charles Jones $65,000 INJURED Lakers Jamaal Wilkes $860,000 Earl Jones $75,000 Suns Walter Davis $670,000 Rick Robey $425,000 James Edwards $406,000 Larry Nance $400,000