With Eric Bledsoe's contract, the payday window for the 2010 NBA Draft class is basically a wrap. Barring last-minute minimum deals for the fringe NBA players on the list, everyone's fate is set for next season. There is actually at least one more big payday to come -- Greg Monroe will be an unrestricted free agent next summer -- but alas. The gears of analysis cannot wait.
What the 2010 first round draft class will make in 1 chart
The 2010 first-round picks have earned some pretty nice NBA paydays. Most of them for former Kentucky Wildcats.
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
So here’s a chart showing the NBA salary guaranteed to each of the 2010 first-rounders.
Bledsoe ended up with the third biggest second contract gross, behind Paul George and John Wall. DeMarcus Cousins' deal is only four years, though, so he'll make more per season.
Other notes:
* The class has locked up $577 million in future guaranteed salary as of right now. Some $239 million of that (41 percent) is owed to the 2009-10 Kentucky Wildcats. And not a dime of it is owed to Daniel Orton.
* David Kahn picks in the 2010 draft have locked up $1 million of future salary. Kudos.
* There are two second-round guys of note (Landry Fields and Lance Stephenson), but comparisons are unfair because of far different timelines to free agency and, for Lance, the absence of restricted free agency.
* Luke Babbitt is the highest pick without a guaranteed NBA deal. He's actually already been out of the NBA for more than a full season before returning on unguaranteed deals to the Pelicans last February. And to think, some of us thought Babbitt would be a better pro than Gordon Hayward.
* Roll the dice with your late firsts. Because chances are they will not stick in the NBA anyways.
