http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3508955 New Jersey Nets free agent Nenad Krstic signed a two year deal worth $3 million euros per year with Triumph Moscow early Tuesday morning, Krstic's agent, Marc Cornstein, said. Nenad Krstic Krstic The salary is the equivalent of around $9 million per year in the United States once you factor in the exchange rate and the fact that European clubs pay all the players' taxes. Cornstein worked until midnight Eastern time trying to find an NBA team willing to pay Krstic at least a mid-level contract to keep him in the NBA. But as the midnight deadline passed, Krstic became the sixth NBA player to recently bolt the league for Europe. "At the end of the day, Triumph offered him the most love," Cornstein told ESPN.com. "This was too good of a deal to pass up for him." Krstic joins Josh Childress, Bostjan Nachbar, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jorge Garbajosa, Carlos Delfino and Primoz Brezec as NBA players who opted to play for more money overseas this year. Three of the six are Cornstein clients. Krstic was having a near All-Star season in 2007 when he injured his ACL. His comeback last season was slow and at the end of the day teams opted against offering him the contract Cornstein was seeking, a two year deal (with a player option for the third year) starting at around $5 million per season. The interest from a relatively unknown team in Russia, Triumph, will certainly raise even more eyebrows. It's one thing when Euroleague powerhouses like Olympiacos sign Childress. But when non-Euroleague teams like Triumph start being able to outbid NBA teams ... has the pendulum swung entirely the other way? "I think you almost have NBA teams being overly cautious at this point," one Eastern Conference GM told Insider. "With so many teams so close to the luxury tax, teams are unwilling to take risks. Krstic was a risk. A small one, but a risk. We are certainly seeing the effects of the collective bargaining agreement this year. But these things are cyclical. If lots of team had cap room, Childress, Krstic and others would be playing in the NBA."
I would've liked him as a back up for Yao. Prior to injury he was probably the 2nd best center behind Shaq in the east. Now with the development of Howard, Bogut, and Shaq out west he's probably a top 5 center when healthy. Still young with a nice offensive game.
Yeah the Nets should've been able to do something with Kidd, Carter, Jefferson and Krstic as their core. Too bad their coaching and bench always stunk. Sad to see that core dismantled. All thats left is Carter.
That's surprising. I would have thought some team would have taken the chance on that amount. Coming back mid-season probably did him in.
Injuries hurt him a lot. He wasn't a softy either. The Nets can retain his rights and try to get him back if he recovers and wants to make a comeback. I strongly suspect Buddy Baker is trying to get something similar done for Landry.
Are the Nets gonna win a game next year? Their roster is so depleted and i'm saying this even before they make the inevitable Vince Carter trade/dump. They literally have nobody. Sure, they're shamelessly preparing for a run at LeBron in 2010. Everybody knows that. All i'm saying is there's no fast-forward button in the NBA and that remaining competitive and relevant is somewhat essential in the world of professional sports. They really need to hit a home run with this Lopez kid since Yi doesn't know what he's doing yet and everybody else on that roster just appears to be serviceable-at-best role players. Harris is the only guy outside of VC capable of scoring 20 points in a game and even he isn't even lighting the world on fire.
How in the hell is 3 million euros equivelant to 9 million dollars? The exchange is like 1.5 right now so the per year salary would be 4.5 million dollars or so. Unless the tax rate is 100% over there, where is the other 4.5 million coming from?
The injury was the issue and I don't blame NBA teams for not giving him the MLE. What's surprising to me is the obscurity of this Russian team who ponied up the money. Here is how (I think) they arrive at $9 million from 3 million euros: The exchange rate is 1.5 so his salary is $4.5 million. The tax rate is ~50% so you double the $4.5 million to $9 million to estimate his gross salary before taxes.
he can play both the 4 and the 5, as well as Landry if not better. why not give the MLE to him? but then again, i haven't seen him play as much as some of you.
I still don't get how they get a 50% tax rate. The top tax bracket is 35% starting at 350k. Medicare taxes are 1.45%. Social Security taxes would only be taxed on the first $100k. The income tax brackets are 10-28% for the first 100k Overall, it would be about 36.5% before taking any deductions and credits. He would be paying less than 36.5%, after the deductions and credits. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Common/Taxes/2007TaxBrackets.aspx
He didn't want to be locked up in a long contract. Basically if he was any good either you would lose him next year or you would be stuck paying him twice as much as the MLE because a big with skills is worth that much. If he never recovers from his injury you're stuck paying him the MLE for 2 years. It's really a terrible contract for a team and it gives him all the leverage while still getting a decent amount of money.
don't forget state income tax. anyhow...the number is probably closer to the equivalent of an $8 million per year contract in the nba.
^^ the tax rate would be 50%, and for over here, not over there, to do the math. as has been mentioned, $9 million is probably a little high, but not that much...may have changed, but info I've found via google notes that that state tax level at that high of an income is 8.97% in Jersey. So his tax rate would be in the low 40%'s, potentially.
Since US Americans are afraid of math (especially in the media), the agents are all like "well that 200 Euros is roughly equivalent to 18 million dollars when you do, um, some tax stuff, and the free Festiva car, and (mumble, mumble)."
