$1 billion earned: Lute's recruits still raking in big money
Arizona Wildcats basketball coach Sean Miller is setting up his own conveyer belt of players to the NBA, but Lute Olson's legacy is far from over.
Lute's recruits reached an NBA milestone last season, topping a whopping $1 billion in NBA salaries. Yep, $1 billion.
And counting.
Former UA center Channing Frye, building off his 2013-14 comeback season with the Phoenix Suns after sitting out a year because of an enlarged heart, agreed to a four-year, $32 million deal with the Orlando Magic on Monday.
Olson sent 34 players from Arizona into the NBA, and their salaries, give or take several hundred thousand, stands at $1,005,824,715 through the end of the 2013-14 season. Contract numbers are taken from basketball-reference.com, the USA Today salary database and other media sources. The numbers don't always agree down to the dollar, but it's close.
How high can that figure go?
Seven players from the Olson era continue to play in the NBA. Add in Frye's $32 million. Chase Budinger is owed $10 million from the Minnesota Timberwolves for the next two seasons. Golden State owes Andre Iguodala more than $35 million for the next three years. Jason Terry will add more than $5 million to his total next season.
Richard Jefferson, whose career earnings are already into nine figures, is a free agent at 34 years old. Jerryd Bayless, a six-year veteran at 25, is a free agent. So, too, is 26-year-old Jordan Hill. They will get paid.
So, at some point, Lute's recruits are going to go well past $1.1 billion.
Gilbert Arenas has earned more than any of Olson's former players, although "earned" might be too strong of a word. His total of nearly $182 million includes $62 million for not playing for the Orlando Magic, who waived him under the NBA's amnesty clause in December 2011 so the fading star wouldn't count against the salary cap.
Miller already has done an enviable job of producing NBA talent -- four picks in the past two seasons and two overall lottery selections -- Derrick Williams (No. 2 in 2011) and Aaron Gordon (No. 4 in 2014). Miller's 2014-15 roster is loaded with first-round potential in Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brandon Ashley, Kaleb Tarczewski and Stanley Johnson. It's easy to think, for Miller's program, the best is yet to come.
But it's a long way to $1 billion and beyond.
Here is the breakdown of what Lute's recruits have earned in the NBA:
| Player | NBA salary |
|---|---|
| Gilbert Arenas | $181,904,131 |
| Mike Bibby | $107,576,621 |
| Richard Jefferson | $106,607,034 |
| Damon Stoudamire | $100,535,041 |
| Jason Terry | $96,372,744 |
| Andre Iguodala | $86,192,891 |
| Michael Dickerson | $50,425,662 |
| Sean Elliott | $40,626,666 |
| Chris Mills | $37,370,000 |
| Channing Frye | $35,338,889 |
| Luke Walton | $33,903,340 |
| Bison Dele | $22,159,500 |
| Sean Rooks | $17,173,000 |
| Steve Kerr | $16,119,000 |
| Jerryd Bayless | $15,606,520 |
| Jordan Hill | $15,204,687 |
| Jud Buechler | $11,365,000 |
| Khalid Reeves | $9,013,309 |
| Chase Budinger | $7,977,968 |
| Loren Woods | $3,468,931 |
| Tom Tolbert | $2,919,500 |
| Anthony Cook | $2,295,000 |
| Salim Stoudamire | $2,187,000 |
| Ben Davis | $715,847 |
| Hassan Adams | $709,881 |
| Miles Simon | $672,500 |
| Reggie Geary | $492,250 |
| Ed Stokes | $272,500 |
| Ray Owes | $220,000 |
| Mustafa Shakur | $145,120 |
| A.J. Bramlett | $118,974 |
| Pete Williams | $70,000 |
| Marcus Williams | $52,209 |
| Matt Othick | $13,000 |
| TOTAL | $1,005,824,715 |